Struck by an Arrow
by darlingofmirkwood
Summary: WARNING: Legomance, but no tenth-walker and all that jazz... Story of a girl who's struck by lightning and transferred to Mirkwood, stumbling upon some of the most fearsome elves in all of Middle Earth. How will she explain what happened to the Elvenking? Or to herself? Sorry, the summary isn't great, but PLEASE give my story a try! Thank you! :)
1. Struck

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy!

You know that awful moment when one stupid thunder storm changes your whole life? Oh, wait; that's just me. Only _I_ have luck that bad, that ridiculously stupid and impossible. I mean, honestly; most people get through their entire life without even being struck by lightning, not to mention _going to a different world_. Hold on; let's go back to the beginning.

It all started on a rainy walk home from school. My best friend, Jace, was teasing me about our quiz today because I'd passed with ninety-nine percent, which was the highest in the class. Why he teased me for that? I don't know. That's just how Jace was.

As I rolled my eyes, the rain started falling more heavily. I was grateful for two things. First; I hardly ever made makeup and two? I didn't have naturally curly hair. It was bad enough that by the time I was home, I'd be soaking wet. I didn't need to look like a killer clown on top of that.

"Paige, maybe we should call for a ride," Jace spoke softly, glancing sideways at me, brown eyes full of concern. "It's way too cold and wet for us to walk all the way home."

I shrugged. "I'm fine. If you'd like a ride, be my guest; call someone. I'll walk, thanks."

He sighed. "Paige, you're gonna get sick."

"Okay, mom." I smirked.

He didn't reply, but I could feel his disapproval practically rolling off of him. Nothing more was said, but that was okay. He was being utterly absurd! My house was a mere block and a half away from our high school in Pampa, TX, though I knew why he was worrying. Jace had liked me for about a year now, which made things awkward from time to time. The worst event, undoubtedly, was when he'd acted like he was my boyfriend to ward off a _damn_ fine looking guy who was hitting on me. I'd nearly slugged Jace across the face right there. The only thing that had stopped me was remembering that he was my best friend.

We were at my house within moments and I marched inside with a quick wave of my hand to Jace. Closing the door, I called out to see if anyone was home and, as I'd suspected, no one was. My parents both worked all day and I had no siblings. However, there had been times when I'd expected to come home and be alone and either my mom or dad was there, scaring me half to death.

I walked into the kitchen and ate leftover pizza and grapes, all the while trying to decide what to with the rest of the day. Mom was usually home before dad, around eight o'clock, so I did whatever I wanted during the day. My mother and father didn't exactly deserve a 'parents of the year' award. They were gone the whole day and when they came back, they said nothing to me, retiring to their bedroom. It had been that way since I was just a year old. They'd shipped me off to day care until they deemed me old enough to be able to stay home alone. I understood why; they'd never wanted kids and I kind of screwed up their plans. It would have been nice if they cared even just a little bit though. When they'd discovered just two years ago, when I was fourteen, that I was dealing with depression and cutting myself, they'd told me that I had no reason to be depressed because they were providing me with a wonderful life. Needless to say, our relationship didn't exactly improve after that.

After I'd finished my snack, I decided to go for a walk out in the rain. I loved rain. I grabbed my umbrella and off I went, locking the door so that I didn't give my parents a reason to talk to me. The downside of that decision was that I'd left my key in the house and only realized that once I saw the lightning, not far enough in the distance for my liking.

I decided I would walk to Jace's house, having nowhere else to go that I could think of. He lived on other end of town, so he was probably only barely arriving home himself. Cursing under my breath, I started to run and the rain started coming down harder. Thunder claps went one after another, as did lightning, and I had the strangest feeling that something was going to happen.

Deciding that I could go faster without the umbrella, I stopped, right in the middle of an empty street, to pull it closed. But that's when my bad, ridiculously stupid and impossible luck set in; I was stuck by lightning. Now, this may sound weird, but I almost sensed that it was going to happen before it did and I somehow knew that I would be okay.

My eyes, which I had closed right before the lightning struck me, opened slowly, confused as I realized that while I was very wet, rain was no longer falling. I no longer hear the sounds of the small city I lived in; no cars, school buses, and (strangest of all) no thunder. But that had all made sense in a sort of messed up way when I'd opened my eyes and seen dark, tall trees in all directions. Their roots were sprouting out of the ground and they were so large and tall that I couldn't see the sky. The forest was still…. Much too still.

"What the…?" I muttered, uneasy.

And then I heard sounds all around me and everywhere I looked, I saw either swords or bow and arrows pointed at me, though I could not see any of the faces belonging to the owners of the weapons. In shock, I let the umbrella slip from my fingers, hardly hearing the sound of it hitting the ground over my fast-beating heart. One of the people stepped forward and I gasped.

She was tall and thin and her face was perfect. Light brown hair hung nearly to her knees and her eyes were a piercing silver-blue. She was as pale as me, which was something I wasn't used to seeing. She was dressed very strangely, seeming to be dressed that a girly medieval warrior, dressed in all brown. Pointed directly at me was an arrow, far more beautiful than any I'd ever seen (though, that wasn't saying much).

"Daro! Er peth ar'lle gwanna." She spoke, her voice beautiful yet deadly.

I blinked. "I don't know French." I replied quickly, though I knew full well that she was not speaking French.

She narrowed her eyes. "Pedil edhellen?"

But I couldn't answer. I could barely breathe, partially from utter terror and partially because of how closed off the woods were.

"Legolas," she called, slightly louder and, as her gaze did not wander, I assumed she was still talking to me. That is, until the most attractive guy I'd ever seen stepped forward, also carrying a bow.

His hair was the palest blond I'd ever seen and fell a little ways past his shoulders (even though it was so not something I usually liked, he made it look _good_) and he was slightly taller than the female. He was dressed in green and brown, reminding me just a little bit of the character 'Link' from Zelda, but I could see that he was far more built than Link. This guy was lean and you could tell just by looking that he'd look great with his shirt off. He had the same piercing eyes as the girl and he stared at me intently.

"He ped ú edhellen. Fael Westron." The girl said, finally turning away from me.

I noticed then that she had pointy ears and that was the last straw. With one terrified squeak, I passed out.

What the she-elf (hee hee) says: ** Stop! One word and you die. ** Do you speak Elvish? ** She speaks no Elvish. Just Westron.


	2. Mirkwood?

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

"Hena echil." (She is human.)

I awoke to the strange words, believing that I was still half asleep. That sounded an awful lot like the way the people in my dream spoke. Hmm…. Yup. I was still asleep. But why was I so uncomfortable? I was lying on cold, hard ground. It felt like pure stone and my bed most definitely did not feel like that. What was going on? Seriously. I was beginning to wonder if I was brave enough to open my eyes.

"Manna he carsí? Sin aranarthna band, dolthao pân coth hent." A different, lower voice spoke, a man's voice. What the hell was he saying? Why couldn't I _wake up_? (What is she doing here? This kingdom is safe, hidden from all enemy eyes.)

"Hena ú coth. Hena nîth a _echil_. Was the response from the girl. (She is no enemy. She is young and _human_.

Without opening my eyes, I carefully used my arms to shove myself backward, not sure what good it would do, but too panicked to think of anything else. When I made a noise and the strange 'speaking' stopped, I froze and my eyes flew open.

I was in a cage or dungeon and it was entirely dark other than the one door, which were mere bars, where light flooded in. That was the only thing coming in; two silver-blue stares coming from two perfect faces. The girl was the same one I'd seen before, but the guy was unfamiliar. His hair was slightly darker than the girl's and his features sharper, slightly more masculine. I made a sound, somewhere between a squeak and a gasp, of terror.

"Hena cuin. Aravaethil, ego. Tegi Legolas ad ah'lye." The guy spoke quickly, a small smirk playing on his lips. (She is alive. Aravaethil, go. Bring Legolas back with you.)

She nodded and off she went, dancing away gracefully to do whatever it was they did here. The boy's eyes stayed on me and he seemed calculating, almost as if he was sizing me up. Did he really think I was dangerous? Me, the only person who had been unarmed? Hmm. I thought of giving him a reason to be afraid of me. I had nothing to lose anyway; this was all a dream. But something told me that was not wise.

"Pedil edhellen?" He seemed to ask me a question.

"What?"

He laughed and the sound was quite beautiful. "You do not know our language, young one." He smiled. "You have nothing to fear. We have no intention of harming unless you give us reason to."

I hardly found that comforting. I actually snorted and then quickly regretted it. "Who is we?"

"The Woodland Elves."

My eyebrow shot up. "Elves?"

"Edra i annon." A new, male voice spoke and then the hot, blond guy from before was outside the door. His face was almost blank, but there was just a hint of curiosity in his expression. He really was attractive. (Open the door.)

The other guy suddenly pulled a key from a pocket and unlocked the door to my cage-thing. Both men entered and the girl (who'd returned with the blond boy), followed. I backed up until I hit the wall, clenching my teeth tightly to keep from screaming. The blond one's hands came up, trying to reassure me, but it didn't work.

"St-stay back," I stuttered. "Don't touch me."

"We will not harm you." He spoke and even his voice was wonderful. Wow. This man…. elf…. male-thing. "The king wishes to speak with you, to know how you came to be here in our land."

"Your land?" I frowned.

He nodded. "Mirkwood."

"Mirkwood? What the freaking hell is a Mirkwood?"

He blinked a few times, puzzled. "Where did you come here from?"

"Pampa. Texas." They all looked at me as though I was crazy. "USA? Land of the free, home of the brave? Baseball? Apple pie? Fireworks?"

The girl looked at the blond. "Legolas, what is she speaking of?"

"I do not know," he replied. "I must take her to my father. Surely, he can make sense of this. Aravaethil, Belathron, take her to him. I will be there in a moment."

"No. No, no, no! No one is taking me anywhere!" I glowered at _Legolas_. What kind of a name was that anyway? And why couldn't I wake up yet? I'd woken up in my dream… I hadn't tried pinching myself yet, so I did then, as hard as I could…. It didn't work.

Legolas sighed. "Take her."

And then they each grabbed one of my arms and started leading me out of the room. I kicked and screamed, trying to free myself, but they were strong. I screamed a stream of curses at Legolas and he grimaced slightly, seeming to object to my language. _Well, good_, I thought, _serves him right_. I was about to say a particularly nasty one, but I felt a sharp pain in my neck and my eyes rolled back in my head as I fell unconscious.


	3. Welcome

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

When I awoke for the second time (which was impossible because you can't exactly _wake up_ and still be dreaming, aka sleeping), I was being held upright and it felt really weird. My eyes opened and I was looking at a ceiling that extended for_ever_ and seemed almost like it was made of trees, some left natural and other were carved into beautiful arches and pillars. I gazed at the impossible beauty, taking it all in, and then I remembered that I was still being touched by two complete strangers. I jumped upright, going rigid and bringing my head forward. My mouth literally fell open.

There were stairs made of the same wood barely four feet in front of me and at the top of the stairs, there was Legolas, standing beside a huge throne that held a man who looked an awful lot like him (only much more frightening). His hair was the same shade of blond and it was just as long and Legolas' hair and his eyes were the same color as all of the other elves. He was dressed in what looked like a silver, formal robe and black pants underneath. His dark boots appeared to be made of leather and on his head was the strangest looking crown thing I'd ever seen. It looked like a bunch of branches with red leaves forming a circle around his head and his throne was even stranger…. It was built directly on to a tree, carved into the beautiful seat that he sat on. Gigantic antlers came out of either side of the throne; I couldn't help but wonder how they tied into the whole forest theme and what kind of animal they came from because seriously, moose antlers and deer antlers DO NOT get that big.

This guy was obviously 'the king' who wanted to speak with me and I felt completely stupid, but I had no clue what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to bow or curtsy or maybe do the whole 'your majesty' crap? What on earth did you do to show your respect to a guy who was sitting on a tree with antlers?

"Welcome." He spoke and his voice was beautiful and, seemingly, friendly. He stood slowly, putting his hands behind his back as he walked toward me. He gave the people holding me a look and they let me go, stepping back just barely and I knew that they were still watching me very closely. "I am sure that you are aware of why you are here."

"Umm…. No. I'm really not," I said, giving him a weird look. Of course I didn't know why I was having this ridiculously weird dream and why I'd ended up here in a place called '_Mirkwood_'.

"I wish to know what you are doing in Mirkwood and where you came here from."

I laughed, though I was not amused. "I wish to know what I'm doing in Mirkwood, too, and where Mirkwood is and how I came here from Texas and why all of you have pointy ears and _weapons_ and why you live in a castle-fort-thing made of trees and why you all speak gibberish and what kind of animal has antlers that big!" I pointed at his throne, taking a deep breath.

He cocked his head to one side. "We speak _Elvish_ and have 'pointy ears' because we are elves. Mirkwood is not far from Grear River and the Misty Mountains. I am Thranduil, king of Mirkwood. None here have heard of a realm called 'Texas'."

I looked at him for a while, and then at Legolas, and then behind me at the other two, beginning to fear for my safety. "Uhh…. Are you all high?"

"What?"

"Did you smoke something? Find bad mushrooms? Drink too much vodka?" And then my mind traveled to an even darker place. "Did you guys escape the loony bin? Oh, God…. That would explain why none of you know what the USA is…."

"Hena lhaew." Thranduil said, looking quite troubled. (She is ill.)

I sighed. "Please stop speaking 'Elvish'. Elves aren't real. See?"

I turned to the girl and grabbed her ear at the point, tugging at it so that I could prove to them that they were crazy. She yelped in pain, shoving me away from her as forcefully as she could, and I stumbled away, shocked. As I was realizing that they really were elves, I was also falling over the edge; we'd been on a platform, suspended by just a few incredibly tall trees, and I hadn't noticed until then, when I was going to die. That just figured.

My scream barely left my mouth when I was being lifted back up by two sets of hands. As soon as my feet were back on solid ground, I whirled and saw that it had been Thranduil and Legolas that had saved my life and in that moment, I went from thinking these people were crazy to nearly worshipping them. Silently, of course! I wasn't the type to openly worship, but I would never say elves weren't real ever again, even when I woke up.

"She is no threat to us, though I must request that you do not do _that_," Thranduil nodded in the girl's direction and she was still rubbing her ear, "again. What is your name?"

"Paige."

"Paige, Gi nathlam hí."

I didn't respond because I didn't understand the last thing he said. Legolas sensed that and gave Thranduil a look. Thranduil chuckled as he realized.

"You are welcome here. Legolas, find her a room. Aravaethil, you shall tend to her." Thranduil's eyes settled on my face again. "It is clear that you are unfamiliar with Middle Earth and that you come from another land, one we do not know of. We shall seek answers to explain this later."

And he turned on his heel, walked up the stairs, and returned to his throne.


	4. Confusion

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

I've always loved meditating. Lying somewhere in complete silence, my hands rested on my stomach, abandoning all thoughts…. It was strange because it really didn't seem like something I would do, but I loved it. I sometimes did it for an insane amount of time, going into my room after school and skipping dinner just so that I could escape the craziness that people called _life_. It was also good for if I was ever panicking. You know, take deep breaths and all. It actually worked for me!... Until I was in the most comfortable bed ever.

After Legolas had shown me to my room and I'd asked Aravaethil to give me some alone time (and apologizing profusely for trying to pull the tip of her ear off), I'd admired what was mine until I woke up. A huge bed stood in the middle of the wall with a quilt that looked like it was made of leaves and matching canopy and curtains. The curtains covered the doors to a balcony that led out to a view of the Mirkwood forest and a waterfall that put all I'd ever seen before to shame. Back inside the room, there were two empty wardrobes and a vanity, spread out in the large room. It had a comforting, earthy feel to it and I wanted to see if the bed was as comfortable as it looked.

It was.

That's why I was trying to meditate in it, calm myself down so that I could think rationally about the situation at hand. Everything was perfect for relaxing; the bed, the silence, the peaceful feeling... But I couldn't do it. There was an awful feeling in my stomach that told me that I was not dreaming. After all, I'd already 'woken up' twice and the same people greeted me and I hadn't been asleep before I came here. I'd been hit by lightning! Oh, crap….

I bolted upright in the bed. Everything made sense. I'd been hit by lightning and I was dead. This was supposed to be heaven and here I was, acting like an idiot! Then again, being someone who didn't buy in to religion or heaven, how could that be my answer? Ugh, this was all way too frustrating.

Hopping to my feet, I started pacing the floor. My parents believed in heaven and when I was little, they made me go to church. I didn't remember much about it, but I do remember that heaven was the thing to strive for and you had to be really good to make it to heaven. Was it possible that my parents had been onto something, that they'd been right all along?

The sudden knock at the door made me jump and yelp, scrambling back toward the bed. The door flew open and Aravaethil entered, scanning the room for something. When she was done, she turned to me, her face rather blank. Tucked under her arm was a white blanket or something and I wondered what she was doing here.

"Is everything well?" She asked, her tone business-like.

"Yeah…. Why wouldn't it be?"

She didn't answer. She simply handed me the white thing and then took a step back, looking at me expectantly. I raised my eyebrow, tempted to demand what she'd given me, but I didn't have to.

"It is your nightgown. I will take your clothing after you change and I shall bring you more in the morning. You must not go about in those," she eyed my jeans and black sneakers distastefully, "any longer. We will provide you with new clothing that will suit you much better."

I put my hands on my hips and gave her a sassy look. "What's wrong with my shoes? You can take my jeans and my hoodie and my tank top, but you are _not_ taking my shoes. Or my bra! You may not need one, but I certainly do!"

I'd always been 'lucky' when it came to chest size. I had an average build other than height and bra size. I was a 32C and that was pretty large considering my 25 inch waist. That may sound small, but when you consider that I'm 5'2", it's actually pretty normal. Anyway, Aravaethil had pretty much nothing up top, though that didn't surprise me; she was incredibly slender and it would look just plain weird if she was 'well endowed', as my mom said.

"I am not going to argue with you. If you insist upon keeping your shoes, I will have to find you only dresses that cover your feet. Goodnight."

She turned on her heel and marched out of the room, nearly slamming the door behind me. I knew that she didn't like me, but that was okay because I didn't like her either. I was a little puzzled though, because she'd told me that she was going to take my clothes after I changed into the nightgown. Maybe I'd pissed her off. Maybe she was losing her cool that all the elves I'd met so far seemed to have.

I wasted no time in changing, relieved to be out of the clothes that were still damp from the rainstorm back in Pampa. Even though I'd always hated nightgowns, this was nice. It was soft and not see-through as I'd feared it would be since it was white. It was also insanely beautiful. Large slits ran up the sleeves and it looked more like a wedding dress than a nightgown. If this was what elf women slept in, how did they dress? Aravaethil didn't dress fancily. She wore pants and boots with a long top/short dress thing over top. Maybe I'd luck out and she'd bring me clothes like that. I doubted it.

I walked over to the vanity to admire the gown and instead caught sight of my hair. I swear to God, birds lived in it. Desperately, I ran my fingers through it, trying to fix it, though that was hard. My dark blonde hair fell to my waist and it liked to tangle.

It took longer than it should've to tame my hair, but it looked so much better after I did it. It now gracefully framed my pale face that bore an unflattering scowl. Dropping the expression, I went back to the bed, deciding to go to sleep.

Right then, there was another lock at the door.

I sighed. "I know you didn't take the clothes, but leave them and just get them in the morning."

Legolas' confused face appeared and I almost laughed. Oopsies….

"Sorry. I thought you were Aravaethil." I explained, shrugging my shoulders in an apologetic yet casual manner. "What do you want?"

"My father sent me to see if the room is satisfactory or if we should find a new one."

"Oh, right! You're a prince." I grinned widely, knowing that I was being a total brat. "I suppose I should feel incredibly privileged to have you in my room and I should be worshipping the very ground you walk on like other women do, yes?"

He glowered furiously and I knew I'd touched a nerve. "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Ooh, touchy!"

He started to grind his teeth. "Are you always this rude, or only to people who save your life?"

That shut me up. Oh, right. That was a thing. He'd saved me from death and now I was pestering him? I hadn't meant any harm. I was just teasing. Why was he so sensitive about this topic?

In typical Paige style, I carried on being a smartass. "Oh, I'm always like this. The room is lovely, by the way. I'll be just fine here."

He nodded curtly and left. Right before he closed the door, I softly whispered, "Thanks," even though I knew he couldn't hear me.


	5. The Nature of Elves

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

"You must wake now. King Thranduil requests your presence. *Echuio." (Wake up.)

I opened one eye and saw Aravaethil standing above me, an angry look on her face. Groaning, I rolled over and pulled the quilt up over my head. I was way too tired to even think about getting out of bed then and nothing Aravaethil said or did could change that.

"I request more sleep." I yawned, settling back against the pillows.

"Ego, *mibo orch!" (Go kiss an Orc!)

She'd replied so forcefully that I sat up, staring at her, knowing that I should feel insulted. _What_ had she just called me? Stupid elf!

"Excuse me?"

She smirked, seemingly pleased with my obvious outrage. "Pedin i phith in aníron, a nin ú-cheniathog." (I can say what I wish, and you won't understand me.)

My hands balled into fists and my eyes narrowed. This bitch was trying to piss me off and it was working. I wished so badly in that moment that I'd learned another language so that I could be as rude as she was being. This was no way to treat guests! _Yeah, but the way you're constantly acting is no way to treat host,_ a voice in my head sneered. I told it to get lost. I didn't need elves and my mind against me; one problem at a time.

"Hmm, that's really interesting. Why don't you go say it to the monkeys and cows who might actually have a hope of understanding you?" I flashed her an innocent 'in your face' smile and laid back down, thinking I'd effectively ended our argument.

She gasped. "Lye taur-" (You awful-)

"Aravaethil! Prestad? Man cerig?" A new, feminine voice sounded concerned. (Is there trouble? What are you doing?)

"No!" (Yes (In Elvish))

"Am man?" (Why?)

I sat up then and stared at the new elf, who was standing in my doorway. She had long, red hair and hazel eyes, which shocked me for a moment into thinking she was not an elf, but I could see her pointed ears. She was looking back and forth between Aravaethil and me and she looked quite troubled. Aravaethil, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to kill me. _If looks could kill_…. I'd be in about a million pieces on the floor and she'd be stomping on every single one.

"Now she rises." Aravaethil spoke through gritted teeth. "King Thranduil needs to speak with our _guest_ and she will not get out of her bed. Why she is not back in the dungeons, I do not know; that is clearly where she belongs."

There was no way I was going to let some snotty elf talk to me like that. I jumped out of bed with what honestly sounded a bit like a battle cry and charged at Aravaethil. Her eyes went wide and she reached out, pushing me away from her lightly. That only made me madder and I tried to attack again and again, with no success. Finally the other elf stepped in, grabbing me around my waist and holding me away from Aravaethil.

"Good. Now that you are done behaving like a fool, you must dress. Here is your gown and here are your shoes. I placed your other gowns in your wardrobe. Maelleth, I believe it is safe to put her down now."

Maelleth, the redheaded elf, set me down gently and then left the room. I snatched the green fabric and gold shoes from Aravaethil's hands and marched over to the bed angrily. It didn't matter if Aravaethil was still there, I was changing and I was going to see Thranduil and demand that he find a way to get me to wake up.

The green fabric, which I knew was a dress, ended up being the prettiest dress I'd ever seen. It was a deep green with a brown ribbon around the waist and lining both sleeves, which came to points past my wrists. The skirt brushed the floor, flowing in the most graceful way. Once I was done admiring it and I'd slipped on the gold slippers, I began to untangle my hair with my fingers.

Soft hands pulled mine away from my hair and then led me to the vanity. They pushed me onto the little seat in front of the mirror and I saw Aravaethil's smiling face in the reflection. She opened the bottom drawer on the vanity and pulled out a silver hair brush. I wondered how on earth I had missed that.

Before I knew what was happening, she was brushing my hair. I was too startled to make her stop, even though I didn't generally let other people do my hair. It felt nice to have my hair brushed and then pulled into the style that all of the elves wore (half up, half down) and I'd never really known that. It wasn't like my mother had ever done my hair.

"There." Aravaethil set the brush down and stroked my hair. "You know, when you are not being disagreeable, I rather enjoy your company."

Oh, I had so many witty responses, but no desire to say any of them. Even though I'd wanted to throttle her not ten minutes ago, I now was 'rather enjoying' her company as well. I didn't mind her when she wasn't being a stuffy, haughty, ridiculously annoying elf. She had some potential.

As I stood, I realized that she was still gazing at me and a crease had formed on her forehead. She looked at me like she was trying to analyze my face. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Aren't you supposed to take me to the king?"

She shook her head. "No."

"I am."

I froze at the sound of the familiar voice. I didn't dare turn around. _Legolas_. Was he still mad at me for my comments the previous night? There was only one way to find out.

I whirled to face him, a fake yet pleasant smile plastered on my face. "Good morning, Legolas."

"Good morning."

Humph. He didn't seem angry, but he wasn't really easy to read as far as emotions went. It was kind of hard to decide whether he'd truly forgiven me or if he was ready to kill me; it was very frustrating.

"She is ready to go see your father, my lord. I apologize for the fact that it took so long. There were some…. _Difficulties_."

"Hey!" I objected.

"Come with me," Legolas sighed, sensing more of my feisty spirit coming out. He took my arm and started leading me from my room. "You have kept the king waiting long enough and I do not doubt that Aravaethil has tasks that cannot easily be fulfilled while she is watching over you."

"Ugh, you make it sound like I need constant supervision," I moaned.

His lip corner twitched. "You _do_."

I didn't know whether I was annoyed or proud. "Are you giving me attitude, dear prince?"

"I would never do that." He teased.

I giggled. "You, sir, may grow on me yet."


	6. Horror

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

"I have reviewed every map I own and I have not seen any 'Texas.'" Thranduil told me grimly.

Legolas had left right after 'delivering' me to his father, who was in a room that looked an awful lot like an elven office. I was sure that was exactly what it was, especially considering who Thranduil was. He now stood in front of a desk, eyeing me with great sympathy and I just stood there, shaking my head and smiling like a total idiot.

"I figured as much." I said nonchalantly. At his questioning look, I laughed. "Well, this is a dream! It's fine if you can't find Texas; I'll be there when I wake up and everything will be fine. I'm not worried, sir. I'll just enjoy my time here as long as I'm asleep and when I'm awake, I'll think of you all fondly and I'll know that elves aren't always jolly and they don't work in Santa's workshop. Everything's okay."

Thranduil looked even more sympathetic now and I was confused. Had he not heard me? I was dreaming and everything made perfect sense. Why was he looking at me as though I was going to snap? Were my dream elves really so stupid that they thought this was all real? I'd never dreamt of elves, so I didn't know. Then again, my dreams never felt so long before either, so none of this was normal for me.

"Oh, come on. You can't tell me that when humans come here from other places, they just _stay_. I haven't seen any humans walking here."

"Paige, humans have never come here from 'other places', as you have. It is not something I have ever seen and I have lived a great deal longer than you can imagine. I do not think that you are dreaming and I do think you will wake up. My son and many others have told me of how you seemed to materialize out of nothing and that does not simply happen. I am very sorry-"

"No… No, you're wrong!" I yelled, backing away. "I can't stay here forever! I have school and friends and my parents. This isn't where I'm supposed to be. I can't stay here!"

And I ran, not listening to him when he called after me and not caring if I could be beheaded for such blatant disrespect toward the king. I just ran even though I had no clue where I was going and it eventually didn't matter anyway; my vision was clouded with my tears and I didn't care. I didn't know if I'd care if I were to fall off one of the many ledges in this woodland castle.

I didn't stop running until I'd reached a dead end, a wall made of three _huge_ trees, and I fell to the ground, sobbing. Crying wasn't something I did very often and I definitely didn't sob, but this situation was the exception.

It didn't matter that I had only a few friends or that my parents didn't care about me or that I hated school and wasn't happy. That was the only life I had ever known and I couldn't suddenly be in a different universe now. I didn't know anything important about Mirkwood or the elves; how could this suddenly be my life?

A hand settled on my back and I jerked away, not wanting to be with anyone at the moment.

"What is wrong?" Legolas asked me softly, concern evident in his perfect voice.

"G-go away," I commanded, going all the way against the wall to get away from him. I really didn't want to see him at the moment, especially not because I thought that his father had sent him and I _really_ didn't want to think about Thranduil right then. "Please."

"What has happened?"

"Please! Please, just leave me alone!" I whirled so that I could watch him to ensure that he left.

His eyes were full of pity and he held his hand out to me. I shook my head furiously and pulled my knees up to my chest, making it very clear to him that I was not going anywhere. He evidently had a different idea. Walking up to me, he scooped me into his arms and started to walk back the way I'd apparently come from.

"Put me down!" I shrieked, kicking wildly, tears still streaming down my face. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to mess with a girl when she's an emotional wreck?! Put me down _now_!"

"I am taking you to the healing ward." He answered, his face blank.

I growled. "I'm not sick, you idiot! Let me go!"

He glanced at me. "Tell me what happened and I may consider it."

"Hell no, princey! It is none of your business."

"If that is your answer, then I am taking you to the healing ward."

"Ahh, dammit! Fine! Take me to the 'healing ward'. They're just going to conform what I already told you; you're an idiot."

He rolled his eyes. "I can live with that."

We said nothing more and I folded my arms across my chest, almost silently fuming. I say almost because I was cursing like a sailor under my breath. My teary spell had passed and now I was frickin _mad_. It was bad enough that I was stuck here the rest of my life, I didn't need an overbearing prince carrying me everywhere. Although, I won't lie; if I hadn't been so pissed, I probably would've really enjoyed the position we were currently in and fully appreciated how strong his chest was.

It didn't take us long to get to their nifty healing ward and Legolas brought me over to one of the beds, laying me down gently.

"Hena lhaew?" A soft-spoken elf chick spoke, entering the room and eyeing me most peculiarly. "Aina he?" (Is she ill? Who is she?)

"Ú-iston. H'innas pedo." Legolas looked at me and I actually caught a glint of annoyance in his eyes. Seriously? Of all the nerve! "Enethryana Paige." (I do not know. She will not say. Her name is Paige.)

"Ú, alna he. Hena nimp." (No, she is not. She is pale.)

I threw my hands into the air. "Why me? Seriously? I don't understand elfy words."

"Elfy?" The girl asked, unimpressed.

I nodded. "I speak _English_."

"English?"

Both elves were obviously puzzled and I couldn't help but snort through my tears which, while they had slowed, had not stopped altogether. "Yeah. What you and I are speaking now."

"Westron." Legolas corrected.

I was taken aback. "West- you know what, nevermind. Let's just get this over with so that I can be by myself, shall we?"

They shared an amused glance and said nothing.


	7. Maybe

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

After the doctor-elf girl (who was the strangest person/elf I'd ever met; oh, and her name was Orthaderyn. It sounded like orthodontist to me) finally decided that I was okay and Legolas finally got the hint, which wasn't really a hint, that I wanted to be alone, I got my wish. I spent the rest of that day in my room, thinking and crying, coming to terms with my new reality.

Could I grow to like or even love Mirkwood well enough for it to be my home? Would I ever understand the strange language spoken by the elves? Would I still be able to live a normal life, or normal-ish life? Husband, children, house? Those were the things I'd always wanted, but how realistic was that now? I was nothing like these elves and I couldn't see any of them wanting to pledge their life to me. Not that I'd pledge my life to one of them either, but I had a feeling that I'd be more open to the idea than they were, especially considering how out of my league they all were.

The elves were all graceful, patient and exceedingly beautiful creatures and I was… not. I'd never met anyone who was as impatient as I was and, as they'd seen on my first day in Mirkwood, I wasn't graceful. I also wasn't exceedingly beautiful. I liked to think I was at least a little bit pretty, with my dark blonde hair that fell to my waist and my light blue eyes that were framed by thick, dark lashes. My lips were full and pink and my face had an innocence about it that didn't make sense, didn't go with my personality. Still, my looks could not even begin to compare to the elves.

By the time I fell asleep, I'd worked out nothing and I went to sleep still crying. I knew I'd wake up with a disaster for a face, so I planned on sleeping the whole day away, or at least most of it and _not leaving my room_.

My plan was actually going well until sunset, when there was a quiet knock on the door.

"Paige? My lady?" It was Aravaethil and she actually sounded like she was worried about me. "May I come in?"

Even though I wasn't happy about it, I agreed by letting her in. She looked me up and down, taking in my disheveled hair and red face, and shaking her head. Considering that she was still looking as perfect as ever, I imagined that she thought I'd been possessed by a banshee or some horrible monster to look as bad as I did then.

"My lady, you have not eaten since yesterday. Please allow me to show you to the dining hall."

"No. I'm not going anywhere. And don't call me 'my lady'. I'm human, you're an elf. It's weird."

She blinked a few times. "As you wish, Paige. But you must eat. If you will not come with me, I shall have to bring food to you. You are not allowed to starve yourself on my watch because it would greatly displease both the king and the prince and I do not wish to lessen their opinion of me over you."

I cringed. "Oww."

Her eyes went big. "What is wrong? Shall I get Orthaderyn?"

"No! No, I'm fine. I'm _emotionally_ wounded, not physically." I tried to explain, but I could see that she had no idea what I was talking about. "Nevermind! Why do I even try to with you people? I don't think we will ever understand each other."

She laughed. "Perhaps we will not, but I believe we could." Her laughter faded to a smile. "I will go get you food and when I return, we shall try to understand one another better."

My disbelief was written all over my face. "Are you serious?" She nodded. "You're not messing with me?" She shook her head. "Okay then…. That sounds great. Thank you. I know I'm a bit of a handful sometimes, but you're still being nice to me. I don't know why, but thank you."

"It is my job, Paige," She joked and then quickly left the room before I could give her a smartass response. Smart move, in my opinion. She gained a little bit of my respect.

By the time she came back, I'd climbed into my bed and I was relaxing against the pillows. I'd been too horrified before to realize that I was starving and the second I saw all the food Aravaethil brought in, I nearly got out of the bed just to go grab the food and scarf it down. Somehow, I managed to wait until she put the food in my lap and then went to lean against the wall.

She spoke while I ate, telling me about Mirkwood and where my room was located in relation to the rest of the castle and things like that. I enjoyed it when she told me a little about how things worked around Mirkwood even though it all seemed like a very strange fairytale to me, something someone would tell a little kid before bedtime. Luckily, since I was eating, she kept the conversation light until she told me that elves are immortal. I literally choked on my food.

"Paige?" She rushed to my side.

I held up my hand and coughed until I felt better and then I looked at her incredulously. "You live forever?"

She nodded, her face still startled. "Unless we are killed, yes. We will live forever."

"Damn," I breathed. "I am so envious right now. This is so not the right place for me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I'll get all old and such and you'll all stay young and perfect. Maybe I should go to a place where there are humans so that I have a hope of fitting in."

She went back to her place on the wall. "You, young one, do not have a hope of fitting in anywhere. And even if you did, we would not let you go. He will not openly admit it, but the king sees something special in you. We all do. You are very difficult and very young, but you are also very unique, Paige. Even I want you here and there are times when I cannot stand to be around you. This is where you belong."

My eyes filled with tears and I got out of bed and walked over to Aravaethil, enveloping her in a tight hug. She stiffened for a moment and then put her arms around me.

"Thank you." I whispered. "Maybe this is where I'm meant to be."


	8. Dedication

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

After our night of 'trying to understand each other', Aravaethil and I were nearly inseparable. She showed me all around the castle, which was actually a big city; if you walked far enough, you'd find large tree houses that the elves slept in. Aravaethil didn't sleep in one because she was a captain of the guard and all of them slept in the same, large, _beautiful_ place that Thranduil and Legolas (and, consequently, _I_) slept in. Her room was a mere minute's walk away from mine, which I quite liked, but I still thought the whole system here was strange. Nobody had their own houses, just rooms and all the elves went to a _humungous_ dining room to eat when they were hungry and I'll tell you what, the first few times I went in there with Aravaethil, I got some weird looks. I tried really hard to ignore them, but it was hard when almost all of them had those stupid, penetrating, silver-blue eyes.

During my first two weeks there, I would only talk to Aravaethil. I would've talked to Thranduil or Legolas, but I hardly saw either of them at all. I assumed that it had something to do with the fact that they were the two most important elves in Mirkwood and they had a whole crapload of responsibilities.

Aravaethil liked to ask me what _my_ world was like and it was almost like trying to tell a cat how geometry works. When I would talk about malls or movies, she would interrupt enthusiastically and demand to know everything I could tell her about them. She also asked about the clothing styles, often turning her nose up distastefully when I would tell her some of the things people wore and I couldn't help but laugh and then agree because even though I didn't want to admit it, I loved wearing all of these elven dresses all the time. Yes, there were days when I wanted to wear pants and not sit like a lady, but I felt so much more beautiful in the dresses.

I was still trying to get used to the fact that I was stuck here for the rest of my life and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't freak out now and then, but things were getting easier. Aravaethil tried to keep me constantly busy so to keep my mind off of things. I appreciated her for it and, most of the time, it actually worked quite well. I knew that it was absurd, but I already felt closer to Aravaethil than I'd ever felt to anyone else in my life. It was weird because she was an elf and I was a human.

One day, after I'd been there about a month, while Aravaethil was doing my hair (like she always did), a felt a spark of curiosity.

"Aravaethil?" I started slowly. "What day is it today?"

"It is the twentieth day in October."

Hmm. That sounded about right. I hadn't been in school very long at all before I'd come here and I hadn't missed it once. Here in Mirkwood, they didn't learn frickin' trig and chemistry and all of that crap; they learned archery and swordsmanship and how to fight and awesome stuff like that.

"Hey, Aravaethil?" I asked again, this time not finishing my question.

She waited a moment, expecting me to go on. "Yes?"

"Will you teach me how to fight?"

She froze, her fingers twined in my hair. "Why ever would you need to fight, Paige? You are human. We will all protect you here; you need not tire yourself out for nothing/"

I snorted. "Yeah, but who's to say that I'll stay here forever? And if and/or when I leave, who's to say that I'll take someone with me? What if I get attacked?"

"By what, may I ask?"

"I dunno, zombies or boogeymen or dragons!"

She laughed loudly, quickly finishing my hair. "I do not know what a zombie is nor what a boogeyman is, and dragons are nearly extinct. You will not simply get attacked by a dragon if you choose to leave Mirkwood. And regarding that, I do not believe that the king would allow you to leave on your own."

I scoffed. "Allow…"

"Oh, you would go against King Thranduil's wishes?" Her eyebrows went up, challenging me.

I'm not one to lie, which is why I just sighed and shook my head. "No. He's been really nice to me and I think he's a great man, but I have a feeling that you do _not_ want to disobey him or get on his bad side."

She smirked. "You are right. Legolas is the same way."

"I don't doubt it."

And the topic dropped. We went about the rest of our morning as we always did, eating and then wandering, but I wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. We were wandering down a hallway that broke off into many different hallways and while she kept walking straight, I turned down one of the hallways and went as quietly as I could, knowing how keen elf ears were. I just escaped as quickly and silently as I could.

I couldn't believe my luck; at the end of the hallway I'd turned down, I found a room full of weapons. There were beautiful swords and knives and bows and so many other weapons that looked like they were made by Greek gods and goddesses. My mouth was open in awe and I was almost afraid to touch any of it. How on earth had elves made such phenomenal weaponry?

Even though I'd never used one in my life, I decided to try a bow. I found one that looked like it was a good size for me and then grabbed the thing of arrows that went with it, hoping like hell that I didn't kill someone.

I started to walk out of the room and saw green and brown cloaks hanging on the wall. I grabbed one and threw it on, covering my head with the hood in hopes that I could conceal my face and not get caught.

I could feel eyes staring at me all the way to the main gate of the 'city', but even so, I made it all the way there without anyone stopping me. I even made my way past the guards and into the actual forest of Mirkwood and I nearly jumped for joy.

*****CHAPTER BREAK*****

_This is it_, I thought. _If I ever get attacked by one of those few dragons that are still out there, I'm so dead_.

When I say I was the worst archer ever, that was an understatement. I was so bad at it that a wookie could better. A wookie, as in a giant teddy bear from star wars that couldn't even speak in such a way that anyone but a completely crazy space ranger guy could understand. To call my skills a failure would be flattering and I was not good at being bad at things.

If I got a dollar every time I dropped an arrow instead of shooting it, I'd be rolling in dough. I was hoping that the situation would turn out like it always did in movies, where the girl just hit her target perfectly her first try. My target was a little carving I'd made in a tree, not ten feet away from me.

"This is the last one." I fumed, putting myself back into what I thought was the correct position.

Suddenly, a hand was on my back, gently forcing my posture to change. Too startled to move, I let whoever was behind me adjust my chin, lowering it just slightly before stepping away. Instead of turning right away to see who it was and demand what they were doing, I pulled my arm back and then released my arrow. I was stunned by the result.

My arrow, while it was not in the target, actually hit the tree, resulting in an excited gasp from me right before I dropped my bow, almost forgetting the help I'd had until he spoke.

"Much better," Legolas approved.

I jumped and whirled, surprised to see the pleasant smile on his face. He had a bow on his back and he had his arms folded across his chest, seemingly smug about my assisted success. I just about laughed, but a different, better urge filled me.

"Thank you," I said happily. "I've been wondering what I've been wrong for the past three hours. Slouching is a no-no."

He chuckled. "I admire your dedication, though I cannot help but wonder why you would attempt to teach yourself how to fight."

"Uhh, actually, that wasn't my original plan. I asked Aravaethil to teach me and she told me that I don't need to learn because all of you elves will protect me all the time and I thought, 'screw that'! I am an independent woman and I am quite capable of defending myself."

"Not at the moment. If you want, I will teach you."

"What? Really?!"

He nodded and I literally hopped up and down a few times, circling around in my excitement, and then rushed up and hugged him.

"I don't care if it's inappropriate here to hug the prince, I'm doing it anyway. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He awkwardly patted my back. "We'll start tomorrow."


	9. Luck

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fan fiction! Enjoy! *****

"Okay, be honest; how bad am I at this?" I asked Legolas with a sigh. He'd been trying to teach me archery for a week now and the only time I could get even close to my target is if he helped me. Every time he stepped away and told me to try it on my own, I'd slouch all over again and go back to almost making the same mistakes. I was a bit surprised Legolas hadn't lost his temper with me and decided to give up; I would've long ago.

"You need to mind your posture." He said, stepping toward me. "Stand up straight, but do not lock your knees."

I obeyed, or tried to, and ended up almost falling over. Luckily for me, Legolas had elf reflexes and he caught me before I could hit the ground, laughing at my clumsiness. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him and instead pulled away from him, straightening up and attempting to maintain just a little bit of dignity. Even though I was sure I had none left, I wasn't about to stop trying.

"Watch me." He ordered, positioning his bow and arrow and making a point of _slowly_ showing me the proper stance. And then he shot the arrow and hit the target dead on, as he had at least once a day since he'd started teaching me.

"Yeah, I know that you can do it and with your help, I can, too. But I don't want to need your help. That's the point of me learning to do this."

"I am well aware of why you are learning to defend yourself. You cannot expect to be an expert so quickly. It will take patience, which is something you need to learn as well."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, _mother_."

He blinked, seeming slightly offended. "I am not your mother."

"I know that! It's an expression. You know, like 'holy cow' or 'for Pete's sake' or 'your mom'. What I was basically saying is that you sounded like a parent. You sounded all stern and such, like moms do when you're in trouble."

He shook his head. "You come from a very strange place, indeed…. Who is Pete?"

"Did you not hear anything I just said?" I was exasperated. "Never mind. Let's get back to work."

"No. I think you have done enough for one day. We shall continue tomorrow."

"I shall continue now. You are more than welcome to go."

He practically snorted. "I am not leaving you out here on your own with a weapon. You will end up shooting yourself."

I was so insulted that I couldn't respond for a minute, just spluttering furiously and glowering. "I will inform you, _prince_, that before you found me the first time I tried this bow, I was alone out here and I didn't shoot myself, so I think I'll be just fine. I would appreciate it if you _did_ leave me out here on my own now, thank you very much."

Stalking away, I ignored him as he followed. I didn't want to give him the opportunity to make me any angrier, so I took off running, my bow still in hand. Legolas called my name, keeping up with me easily, but I wouldn't respond other than to run faster than I'd ever run before. I would've actually felt really cool if I hadn't been so mad…. And if I hadn't almost died just seconds later.

What was with this damn place and their cliffs? Had elves not heard of the wonderful things called railings? I saw the cliff face a second too late and I knew I was going to die. Screaming seemed pointless, so I just closed my eyes and prepared myself for my death, wondering if it would hurt.

But it didn't. And I didn't fall. Instead, I felt two very strong arms wrapped around my waist as I opened my eyes. I was being held against Legolas' chest, being pulled away from the edge, and I was completely fine.

"Please be more careful." He breathed in my ear, setting me on my feet.

"Uhh…. Okay?" I nearly questioned.

He stepped in front of me, his eyes full of disapproval, but I didn't care. I felt a little bit too shocked and grateful to be mad at him at the moment. For the second time, I just hugged him, trembling. This time, instead of stiffening all awkwardly, he put his arms around me in a comforting manner. I couldn't stop shaking and it was only getting worse.

"You are safe," he muttered kindly.

I nodded, though I didn't know if I believed it. For the first time since I'd found out that I was stuck here, I felt tears come to my eyes and I did not want Legolas to see me cry. I wiggled out of his arms.

"I think you're right." I whispered. "I'm done for the day."

We walked back to the 'city' in silence, him just a step ahead of me and I somehow managed to hold my tears in. In fact, by the time we got back to the gate, I no longer felt the need to cry. I'd gotten over the initial shock of almost dying for the second time and I was also just feeling horribly embarrassed for the way I'd treated Legolas. Why hadn't he just let me fall after I was such a brat?

Aravaethil was waiting just inside the gate with a smile, like usual, but her smile quickly faded when she saw my face.

"Paige? Are you well?" She rushed to me, gently laying a hand on my cheek. "What has happened?"

"She is fine." Legolas assured her. "It has been a long day."

Aravaethil took my arm and started leading me toward my room, looking unconvinced of Legolas' words. I didn't blame her; with the look on _my_ face, there was no doubting that something was wrong.

We were to my room before I knew it and Aravaethil shut the door behind us. I turned away from her and walked out to my balcony, leaning on the only freaking railing in Mirkwood, and pretended I was all alone. That was, until I felt her hand settle on my shoulder and I knew I couldn't ignore her indefinitely.

"I have a temper, huh?"

Aravaethil burst into laughter. "Truly? You are figuring that out now?"

"Well, I almost fell off a cliff and died because I was mad at Legolas. Not really a good reason…. I'm just glad he followed me."

She gasped. "I am sure that you are! Why are you so foolish?"

"I'm not!" I thought about it. "Okay, I maybe am a little bit."

She nodded and then paused. "Paige? May I ask you something? Do you care for Legolas?"

"Yeah…. If he died, I'd be upset, if that's what you mean."

"No, no, Paige. Are you _fond_ of him?"

I had to ponder her words for a minute. When I realized what she meant, I balked. "What? No! Absolutely not! He's my friend. And an elf! No, no. Nope. You're insane."

She smiled. "If you say so. You must sleep. And no archery tomorrow. Goodnight, dear friend."


	10. Attack

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

(Aravaethil's POV)

It had been days since Legolas and Paige had practiced archery last. Paige had been eager to get outside and learn and now, she spent her days inside, wandering our city aimlessly. Why had Legolas not spoken to her? Why had she not spoken to him? Perhaps my questions had perturbed her more than I had thought they would.

Truthfully, I had meant no harm. Many women and elf-maids were fond of Legolas and there was no denying that he was good-looking. He was also very kind and brave. He had many fine qualities, though it seemed that his looks were what called the most attention. None of the girls who fancied him truly knew him. Paige was different though. I believed her to be one who could see Legolas' qualities and it would not be a surprise if she were to care for him.

I had known Legolas my whole, long life and I had never thought of him in that way, nor would I. He was a very dear friend to me, but he would never be more. We were very close with one another and I was grateful for his friendship.

"Aravaethil."

I did not have to turn to know that the voice belonged to Belathron, Legolas' closest friend and a fellow captain of the guard.

"Belathron. Well met, my friend."

He approached, swiftly coming to stand by my side. I could not help but question how he knew where to find me. I was standing on the balcony in Paige's room, unsure of where that girl had gone. I had come to find her at dawn, but she was nowhere to be seen. I was not concerned for I did not think she would be foolish enough to go out on her own. Even she had more sense than that.

"Dorondis has spotted an orc pack approaching our lands."

I gasped, turning my gaze upon him. "Does the king know? Does Legolas?"

"No. I came to inform you that they are moving quickly and we must act immediately. We must be prepared for their attack."

"Go, gather the guard. I shall report to King Thranduil and join you shortly. How many orcs are there?"

He shook his head. "I do not know. Dorondis said that the pack was small and that we will defeat them easily, though-"

"You fear that this is a mere beginning and more will come." I finished, horrified. "Go. We must hurry."

I did not wait for him to move before I hastened to see the king. I received questioning looks as I ran through the city, but I paid them no mind, knowing that they all would understand at a later time. King Thranduil and Legolas had to be told of the impending attack and that elves were already working toward thwarting it.

King Thranduil was standing by his throne, speaking to his son, when I found him. I was relieved to find both him and Legolas in the same place. They looked up when I entered and I could see in their eyes that they already knew of the orc pack. I bowed my head with respect for both of them.

"There is an orc pack approaching Mirkwood as we speak. Belathron and Dorondis are gathering the guard and preparing to fight. I plan to join them straightaway; I had to ensure that you were both well aware of the problem at hand."

"Dorondis told us." Legolas replied, frowning.

"We must confirm that everyone is safely inside the city. After we have done so, the guard will fight and we will secure the gate. Legolas, go with Aravaethil. I must speak with Belathron."

Legolas and I both understand that has a dismissal and we left the room. We did not speak, not to each other or any of the elves who were watching us with anxious stares. We were going straight to the gate to ask the guards there if anyone had left and not returned, and I was hoping with all my being that it was not so.

When we arrived, Legolas asked them, "Are there any who are not within the safety of these walls?"

An elf, Nibener, answered. "All are within our walls, my lord."

Exquisite relief filled me and I nearly smiled. Legolas gave a nod of his head and hurried back in the direction of his father, leaving me to follow at his heel. I was no longer overly anxious; if all were safe and there were few in the pack, the problem would be taken care of in a quite timely manner. The only issue that remained was whether more were coming or not.

Belathron and the king were conversing in hushed tones when we returned to the room and neither looked up, though they knew we were present. King Thranduil looked thoughtful at whatever Belathron was saying.

"…hardly a threat, unless there are more that we have yet to learn of."

"Hmm." The king pondered, casting a glance at his son. "All are safe?"

"Yes."

"It is time to fight. Belathron, Aravaethil, I trust that you and the guard are ready to defeat the orcs?"

We both nodded. King Thranduil waved his hand as a sign for us to go and we were in the process of doing just that when the elf, Nibener, came running into the room. She seemed quite distraught and, considering the problem we were facing, that made us all uneasy. Had she not moments ago told us that all was well?

She brushed past Legolas and me and went straight to the king, bowing her head.

"Forgive me, my lord. I did not know." Her voice shook. "There is one who is not within our walls. I was not in charge of guarding the gate this morning when she left, but I have been told that she has not returned."

Dread filled me and I truly hoped that my imagination was simply getting out of hand. King Thranduil looked very displeased, though none could blame him. How had this happened?

"Who?" He demanded.

Nibener cringed. "The human girl."

It was as I had feared. The king's face showed the horror I felt, as did Belathron's. Legolas' may have as well, but I could not see for he turned on his heel and ran from the room, pulling his bow from his back. I felt the urge to do the same thing, but my dismay left me frozen in place.

"Go find her." King Thranduil hissed. "Find her and, one of you, bring her back here _safely_. Gather the guard and kill the orcs. Leave none alive. _Go_."

At this, I willed my feet to move and they obeyed. My dear, young, human friend was out, at the mercy of orcs. I hoped with all that I was that we would find her and that she would be untouched. I sighed as I ran. Only Paige….


	11. Cannibals

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

Why the hell had I thought that wondering in the woods would clear my head? If anything, it did the opposite. My thoughts were cloudy and I felt dizzy and confused and I was pissed with myself. I hadn't been practicing archery with Legolas and I had stayed inside the city for seven days and I was feeling trapped. The only person I talked to was Aravaethil and none of the other elves would talk to me. Even Legolas, and I'd thought our relationship was starting to improve, said nothing to me the two times I saw him that week. I couldn't help but feel a little bit offended that he'd saved my life and now he wouldn't talk to me. Then again, I wasn't any better; I hadn't made the effort to talk to him either.

And now I was lost in the woods, barely aware of which way was up, and I was angry. I'd managed to get myself lost and I was going to die in these damn woods, with only one friend to my name and I was never going to be found. This was just perfect. Oh, happy day.

Suddenly, I heard a twig snap and I jumped, making a warrior sound and holding my arms up like I was about to do Tae Kwon Do. I whirled around and around for a minute, trying to find the source of the sound, but saw nothing. Then I got the brilliant idea of climbing a tree and that's what I did. I climbed the biggest tree I could see as high as I could and then thought, _why did I just do that_? I remembered when I heard more things that sounded an awful lot like someone walking.

I tried to breathe as quietly as possible, but it just wasn't quiet enough. I threw one hand over my mouth, using the other one to hold onto the tree for dear life. I listened as hard as I could as the sounds got closer and closer until my heartbeat was the only thing I could hear.

"Hmm…. Do you smell that?" The single most disgusting voice I'd ever heard asked, making me instantly shrink against tree.

"Smells fresh," came the response, in a voice just as repugnant.

What. The frickin _hell_. Were those awful things? Elves did NOT sound like that and humans most definitely did not either. Sometimes, I forgot that I was not in a happy dreamland with sugarplums and no monsters or bad people. This was a world just as real as the one I came from and I knew very well that evil lurked _everywhere_. Why had I been naïve enough to believe that Mirkwood was any different? I wanted to kick myself.

"There's something out here." The first one said.

"Is it an elf?"

I snorted, finding that hilarious. Even though they couldn't see me, the thought of me as an elf was absurd. Then I realized what I had done and I froze, my blood running like ice in my veins. Why was I so stupid? They'd said that I smelled 'fresh'. Did that mean what it always did in movies? Was I listening to cannibal beasts that thought I smelled like a delicious roast chicken? Oh, I did not want to think like that….

"Come out. We know you're here…."

_Uhh….? No. Nice try, cannibals, but if you think I'm coming down, you are crazy. I ain't about to get eaten, you nasty people eaters._ I was wagging my free hand like a lunatic, wishing that they could see my sass face. I had duck lips and everything and I was full of fantastic, powerful attitude.

Unfortunately, I did just a little bit too much finger wagging and I lost my grip and balance. I started to fall backward and I hooked my knees tightly around the large branch, just hanging there. There was no way I could hold on like this very long, so I did the only thing that I could think of; I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone who could help me would hear. And…. then I fell.

I was happy in that moment that I'd never liked heights and I hadn't been up in the tree that far at all. Even so, I landed badly on my leg and then fell flat on my back. I squeezed my eyes closed, biting my lip so that I wouldn't scream again, but in pain this time and not out of fear.

"A she-elf…."

Lifting just my head, I made a yelp of horror and started scooting away on my arms. They were the ugliest things I'd ever seen. Their eyes were bright yellow and their skin honestly looked like it was made of beef jerky. They had no hair. They looked like they were half zombies and half…. I don't even know. They were gross cannibals; that's all I knew.

"A pretty little she-elf…" The one on the right, who was slightly bigger, said, licking his lips.

He and his cannibal friend started walking toward me and, in my panic, I stood, yelping in pain. My ankle was either sprained or broken and it hurt _so_ badly, but I would rather cut off my own foot than be eaten by one of these nasty cannibals. I really didn't want to die like that…. It was just cruel and unusual.

"Don't come any closer." I commanded, pointing my finger very seriously.

They both laughed, making me shudder.

"Oh, I'm serious! I will cut you!" I yelled.

The silver lining was that I could in fact do exactly what I'd just told them I would. I'd had the sense to shove a knife down my left boot, and I was pulling out. Both of the cannibals just guffawed as I flourished my knife at them, probably knowing as well as I did that I didn't stand a chance against them, especially not with my damaged ankle.

"Grab her," the shorter one said.

The larger one approached and I cut him right across the chest. He staggered back a step, looking down as though he was surprised that I'd actually followed through with what I'd said. After his initial surprise, he glowered and charged at me, grabbing me and harshly throwing me over his shoulder. My knife slipped from my fingers, falling to the ground with a loud thud.

"_No_! _Let me go_, _let me go_!" I screeched and kicked, banging my fists on his back.

"Shut your mouth, _elf_," he snarled.

I gave a hard kick with my right leg (the injured one) and tears sprang to my eyes. "I'm not even an elf, you cannibal!"

I expected him to respond, but he didn't. In fact, he dropped me, letting me fall to the ground in a heap. What the…? I pulled myself into a sitting position and looked up, seeing a bunch more cannibals running toward me. I threw my hands over my eyes, not wanting to watch my death coming at me, but it didn't. All of them ran right past me.

I opened my eyes right as a hand fell on my shoulder. I jumped and looked up to see Aravaethil's relieved eyes peering down at me. I was so surprised, I nearly jumped to my feet, but, remembering the earlier pain when I'd done just that, I stayed put.

"Paige, you need to stand up. One of us has to escort you back to the city safely."

"I can't exactly stand up," I admitted, looking at my ankle. "I blame the cannibals."

She followed my gaze and grimaced. "Legolas!"

I leaned, looking around her, and my mouth fell open. There were a bunch of elves with weapons and the cannibals were falling one by one. Clearly, the elves didn't like the jerky faces any more than I did and they were killing them left and right. Not one elf appeared to have so much as a scratch and I suspected that part of that was that most of them were using bows and killing from a distance, whereas most of the cannibals had swords.

One of the cannibals caught sight of us and the fact that Aravaethil had her back turned and tried to take advantage of that fact. I grunted and pointed frantically, unable to find words, but it was unnecessary. Beef jerky face stopped and fell dead on his face, revealing Legolas standing just behind him with a really impressive dagger.

He stared between the two of us and I couldn't tell if he was worried or just in total ninja mode. I couldn't lie, he was super hot when he was kicking cannibal butt. I smiled awkwardly and waved. He was clearly not amused.

"What were you thinking?" He fumed, coming to kneel beside Aravaethil. "These orcs could have killed you."

I just nodded, looking away.

"Come with me. I will take you back to the city where you will be safe. Stand up."

"She cannot." Aravaethil looked down.

"Why?"

Both of us pointed at my ankle and neither of us would look at him, but we heard his teeth clench together loudly. I winced and slowly lifted my head, keeping my eyes down. I didn't have to look to know that Aravaethil was doing the same thing. Something she'd said to me a long time ago popped into my head. It was when I'd told her I didn't want to be on King Thranduil's bad side. _Legolas is the same way_.

"How did this happen?" He asked through gritted teeth.

I swallowed. "I fell out of a tree."

I looked up just in time to see him face palm and take a deep breath. "Do you always fall from high places?"

"Well…?" I started. "Heights are my worst fear and when I'm afraid, I panic and so…. Yeah. I guess I do."

Instead of answering, he just scooped me into his arms and started to walk, ignoring when Aravaethil called our names and started to follow us. She caught up easily and touched Legolas' arm.

"Aravaethil, ego! Dambethlya sína. Boe de nestad a nye innas *cenan ha." He said sharply. (Aravaethil, go! Your responsibility is here. She needs healing and I will see to it.)

She bit her lip, glancing at me, and then nodded. "Goheno nin." (Forgive me.)

Legolas walked faster, leaving Aravaethil behind. I was curious about what they had said, but I wasn't about to ask. I could see Legolas' face and I didn't want to aggravate him. His eyes were scanning all around us, still in warrior ninja mode, and his jaw was tight with anger. His jaw…. He had a nice jawline. Oh, my God, I did NOT just think that. _Shut up_, _Paige_, _just shut up_.

"I am going to make a very simple request." He seemed to decide as he spoke. "Stay away from heights. Please."

I was feeling a little dizzy from the pain in my ankle and I laughed. "It's not like I want to up high all the time and the cliffs are not my fault! You damn elves need to learn about railings and safety and…."

And at some point after that, I passed out.


	12. My Fault, Your Fault

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

"….estelnya ahlye bandrya…." (I trusted you with her safety.)

Thranduil had been going on in Elvish for a long time now, clearly livid, scolding a mortified Aravaethil. He kept gesturing at me and Legolas, so I was pretty sure he was talking about what had happened the previous day with the cannibals. Why it was her and not me he was angry at, I didn't know, but even so, I was afraid. His rage was quite frightening and I didn't want it aimed at me.

"Goheno nin, hîr vuin." Aravaethil bowed her head. (Forgive me, my lord.)

"Paige, why did you venture into the woods on your own? The orcs would have killed you if it were not for the guard." Thranduil turned on me then.

I grimaced. "I didn't know that there were…. Wait; the cannibals have an actual name? Whoa, okay, anyway, I didn't know anyone was out there. I wanted to go for a walk and I thought that the woods would be the best place."

Legolas shook his head. "She needs constant supervision or she will get herself killed."

"That was your duty, Aravaethil." Thranduil said. "Your first task was to take care of her. That was your priority."

"With all due respect, sir, it should be me that you're mad at, not her. I chose to go out; Aravaethil didn't even know I was out. It wasn't her fault. It was mine and I'm sorry for the trouble I caused."

"That is the problem, Paige. Aravaethil _should_ have known that you were out. That was her job. Legolas is right that you need constant supervision and I knew that to be true before which is why I entrusted you to Aravaethil." His eyes went back to her. "Paige is no longer your responsibility. You shall return to your former duties as captain of the guard."

She nodded. "Of course, my lord. I shall take my leave."

She turned and left Thranduil's office-place very gracefully, closing the door behind her. It was just Thranduil, Legolas and me in the room and I didn't know why they still wanted me here. I assumed that Thranduil was just going to assign me a new babysitter and that was going to be that. It wasn't like I knew any of the elves, so I wasn't going to pick my own babysitter. Honestly, I was mad he thought I needed one at all. Orcs or no orcs, I was sixteen years old.

"You are very young, Paige. Compared to Aravaethil, you are a mere child. I still do not know why, but you came here from your world and that makes you my charge. This is your home now and until you are older and wiser of the matters in our world, someone must be with you to protect you from things such as 'cannibals'."

I frowned. I didn't like being called a child. "You know…. I'm good at being on my own. I've done it my whole life. I haven't had much experience with babysitters or even parents, so I resent the fact that you want someone stalking me around all the time, especially when I hardly know any of you here."

"I was not about to have someone unfamiliar supervise you."

I raised my eyebrow. "Who then?"

"Legolas."

His mouth fell open at the same time that mine did and we both just stared at Thranduil like he'd gone completely mad. I believed he had. Was he kidding? Legolas couldn't be my babysitter! I was not about to have Mr. Elf prince watching me all the time, especially not after all the times I'd made a complete fool of myself in front of him.

"I do not think that is a good idea," Legolas finally managed to choke out, shaking his head rapidly. "Surely there is someone better suited for this task."

"You are the one who came to me with concerns about how Aravaethil was not watching her closely enough and you are not one to do any task halfheartedly. You are best suited for this task and you will do it."

"Uhh…. Do I get any say this?" I demanded.

Both of them looked at me, Thranduil with amusement and Legolas with panic. I took that as a no and I huffed, folding my arms across my chest. Really?

"I have thing to do." Thranduil dismissed us. "Good luck to both of you."

We both turned and marched out of the room. I almost punched him across the face, but I reminded myself that he'd saved my life a lot of times and that wouldn't be very nice. Still, the urge was there and I had to clench my hands into fists to keep from following through. This was so, so, so _not cool_!

As soon as the door to Thranduil's office was securely closed, I stormed toward my room. "This is _your_ fault."


	13. Solitude

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

Hell. That was what my life had been since Legolas took over babysitting me. It had been clear in the beginning that he wasn't any more pleased with the arrangement than I was, but even so, he didn't have to act like a body guard. He followed me around everywhere, hardly speaking a single word to me and I was so tempted to scream at him to either talk to me like anyone normal would or leave me the hell alone. He was like a shadow that I couldn't get rid of and I was more than a little fed up. It had been only a week, but I was ready to tear my hair out.

Part of my problem was, as stated before, the fact that he was pretending that I didn't exist unless I did something he deemed 'dangerous', but another part was that I'd been correct in the first assumption I'd made about it; every freaking elf chick here would flirt with him like crazy and it was annoying because they too would pretend I wasn't there and I'd be stuck listening to a weird Elvish flirting session and Legolas seemed completely oblivious. He honestly looked like he thought these elf girls were just talking to him about things and I had the hardest time not laughing. Yes, Legolas was a guy, but I'd always thought of him as smarter than the rest of his gender. It amused me to realize that he was not.

Another problem was that we were no longer practicing archery. I still wanted to learn to defend myself, but I was too proud to be the first one to break the silence between us. I had always been stubborn and I wasn't about to let go of that now, especially not when it came to Legolas. He was already royal and immortal; he didn't need anything else.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a familiar dark-haired elfette talking to (and flirting with) Legolas. I couldn't remember her name, but she seemed to be more taken with him than all of the other elf girls. She'd approached him nearly every day this week and never once even glanced in my direction.

"Maeraur, Legolas." She beamed. I made a loud gagging sound and for the first time, she looked at me. It was not a pleasant look. (Good morning, Legolas.)

"*Carú lastanrya." Legolas replied, shaking his head. "He pedorya nauth an aina holen anrya." (Do not listen to her. She speaks her thoughts to whoever is closest to her.)

"Aianrya?" She replied. (Who is she?)

"Oh, for the _love_ of all that is good and right, do you people not realize how freaking rude it is to talk in front of someone in a language that they don't understand?!" I exploded, turning on Legolas. "You! Look, I get that you don't want to 'supervise' me. You're not my first choice either, but if you're going to do it, do it right. I don't think your father instructed you to follow me around like a surly teenager and only speak when you think I'm about to get myself killed, and you! I don't know your name, but whatever it is you want to say, make it quick because I'm going to storm out of here in about sixty seconds and Legolas is required to follow me because he's my 'supervisor', so speak now or forever hold your peace!"

Dead silence greeted my angry speak and two sets of silver-blue eyes were glued on my face, clearly stunned by my sudden outburst. Honestly, I was, too, but not in the same way. I felt like I was on fire and I was so glad I'd finally gotten that off my chest. The two elves seemed to think I'd committed an awful social faux pas.

"It seems you are correct, Legolas." The she-elf said coldly.

I glared. "You self-righteous bit-"

"That is quite enough." Legolas said, grabbing me by the elbow and pulling me away from the other girl. "Nóruivael, I apologize, but we shall speak at another time."

"Legolas, I came to tell you that Belathron has requested your presence. He told me he must discuss the orc attack with you immediately. I am willing to supervise your…. Charge…. Whilst you meet with Belathron." Nóruivael said, smiling in a sickeningly sweet way.

Legolas deliberated for a moment. I was shaking my head vigorously, mouthing 'no, no, no', but he ignored that with a sigh. "Thank you, Nóruivael. Paige, please do not make this any more difficult for her than it must be. I will not take long."

And with that, he was off, leaving me with Nóruivael, who I was convinced was going to be my new arch nemesis. Her face stayed all cheery until Legolas disappeared from sight and then she dropped the fake kindness. She was looking at me like I was a baby deer and she was a really hungry lioness. Raising my eyebrow, I folded my arms across my chest and popped my hip.

"Can I help you?" I demanded.

She remained still. "I do not know. It was my understanding that I was to help you. I am to protect you from yourself, is that correct?"

"Actually, I think it'd be smarter to protect _yourself_ from me at the moment because I seriously wanna punch you in the face. I don't even know you and I don't want to because I don't like you. I don't think you like me either and that's okay, but do me a favor; you and I both know that you're only doing this so that Legolas will like you. Just tell him you like him, _please_, get him off my back because if you don't, I might kill him."

She gazed at me distastefully. "I would be delighted if Legolas was no longer burdened by you and you are right, I am fond of him. I do not wish to supervise you, but I will do so if that is what Legolas requests."

I shrugged. "Fine. I'm going to my room; you better keep up."

My room wasn't far from where we were, but I ran, hoping Nóruivael would get lost along the way. I should have known better since she was an elf and she ended up catching up and getting to my room at the same time as me.

We walked in and I slammed the door shut, irritated by the fact that I had to deal with this elf-bitch. Dealing with Legolas was bad enough and now I had to deal with her, too? This was just getting to be too much.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. "Nóruivael?"

"What?"

"I'm hungry. Would you go get me some food?"

She grimaced. "So, not only is Legolas your supervisor, but also your maid. The prince deserves much better than this…."

But despite her complaints, she left the room, leaving me grinning like an idiot. I'd done it! It hadn't been hard, but I'd gotten her out and that meant I could escape. Legolas knew me well enough that that kind of diversion wouldn't have worked on him, but Nóruivael had just met me. Ooh, Legolas was going to be pissed…. _Good. He's too good for Nóruivael_.

I was startled by my thought, but instead of pondering it, I left my room, getting as far away from it as I could. I was hoping to find Aravaethil, but I had the sneaking suspicion that she would be with Belathron and Legolas and I needed a break from _him_ for a while. Because of that, I just wandered, enjoying the solitude…


	14. A Friendly Reminder

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

I'll admit it; I didn't think I'd make it very far before someone caught me and brought me either to Thranduil or back to Legolas, but amazingly, I'd been wandering for over an hour and no one said anything about my lack of babysitter. True, I'd only seen about eight elves, if that, but even so, I'd expected one of them to say something. Not that I was going to complain; I felt like a kid in a candy shop!

The best part, in my opinion, was that I was exploring areas I hadn't been shown yet. I was figuring things out and I felt as cool as Indiana Jones. Of course, if anything popped out at me, I would scream like the girl I was, but that was beside the point.

Had Nóruivael just decided she'd lost me and she'd explain it to Legolas later? That was totally fine with me, but I'd imagined she would try harder to find me just so that she could claim to be the hero and win Legolas' heart. Someone, shoot me now…. That was one wedding I was _not_ going to attend, no matter what. I'd rather had eaten a hundred worms right then and there than even think about the two of them getting married. They weren't right for each other at all. Nóruivael didn't seem exactly queenly to me and I assumed that Legolas would be king of Mirkwood one day.

Speaking of the devil, I almost rounded another corner when I heard Legolas voice, far to near for my liking. I froze.

"….Na van? Am man theled?" He spoke sharply, as if whatever was being discussed displeased him. (When? Why?)

"Ú-iston." I recognized Aravaethil's soft voice. "Tolntë o iharad a eruntë Ú anann." (I do not know. They come from the south and waste no time.)

I didn't listen to anything else they said; I backed up as quietly as I could, fumbling with my fingers to find a door, somewhere that I could hide. Luckily for me, Mirkwood has many rooms/places to hide and it only took a minute before I found one and threw myself in, closing the door silently behind me.

The second random room I'd come across and again, I froze in amazement. There were no weapons this time, but what was there caught my attention even more. Jewels, jewelry, gold, silver, shiny things I couldn't even begin to describe, all what looked like display cases. Some had glass covering them, but most did not, out in the open for me to admire all close and personal. All of it put even the finest jewelry I'd seen back in my world to shame and I didn't know whether or not I should look around. I figured, since I was hiding anyway, that I should, just to see what all beautiful things were stacked here.

There were many strange looking ornaments that I didn't know (elven things, I'd learned to just assume), but there were also things I recognized. Bracelets, necklaces, rings. Oh, so many rings. There were big, gaudy rings and small rings and classy rings and pretty much every kind of ring imaginable. I longed to reach out and touch them, but I decided against it, not wanting to ruin anything.

There were also many crown like things. Thranduil almost always had one on, so I recognized them, and I'd seen Legolas wear one, but only _very_ rarely. They looked a lot like those medieval circlet things that people used to wear on their heads and I actually liked them. They were pretty and clearly a sign of royalty or high status, but they were so ugly and big like the ones kings and queens took to wearing later on.

One thing in particular caught my eye in the room; a beautiful circlet. It was silver with small swirls of gold and diamonds here and there. In the center of it was a small, golden leaf with another diamond. The detail was stunning and I really, _really_ wanted to put it on, but I thought that that probably wouldn't be the best idea…. And I was right.

"I see you have found an interest in the ancient jewels." Thranduil's voice came from a few feet behind me. I screeched like a fighting koala and whirled, holding my hands up in surrender. He laughed. "You are not the first, nor shall you be the last. They have transfixed many."

"I-I, uh…" I stuttered lamely, walking away from the pretty circlet. "I'm sorry. I'm probably not supposed to be in here, but I…. I was…. Err…."

I couldn't think of an excuse, but I didn't want to tell him the truth because he'd probably get mad at me. So instead, I did what I always did with anyone I was worried I'd be in trouble with; I smiled very innocently, in the most 'suck-up' like manner I could, and I pretended that I hadn't done anything. Did my technique ever work? Hardly. But that wasn't gonna stop me. I was feeling like a bad ass after my epic escape from all elves.

Thranduil was no idiot. "Where is Legolas?"

"Legolas?" I squeaked. "Oh, uh…. He had to go talk to Belathron and Aravaethil bout something, so…. I'm pretty sure he's around the corner actually, if you want to talk to him. He's that way."

"No, he is not. He must have left before I arrived. Why is he not with you?"

"Well, they really had to talk to him. It was urgent and stuff and I wasn't about to get in the way of that, so I told him that he could leave me for an hour and-"

Thranduil gave me a somewhat stern look. "Legolas would not leave you by yourself."

I sighed in defeat. "Fine. He left me with some elf-chick named Nóruivael, but I don't like her, so I tricked her into leaving me alone."

He nodded. "_That _I believe. Come; we will find Legolas."

I hesitated. "Can we not? He's going to be mad at me."

"Perhaps you should have considered that before, Paige," Thranduil replied, but he chuckled, so I knew that _he_ wasn't angry. "It is still his duty to watch over you until I believe you are able to be on your own. Tricking the ones supervising you and hiding does not aid you toward such freedom."

"Yeah, I know."

He led me from the room, a ghost of a smile still on his face. I was glad he found it funny; at least someone could find my impending doom funny. Legolas was going to kill me, especially since it was his father who had found me and Legolas wouldn't want Thranduil to think him incompetent.

I wondered if Thranduil could ever think that of his son and quickly decided that he couldn't. Thranduil seemed like an excellent father who was very loving toward his son. There was no doubt in my mind that Legolas was Thranduil's pride and joy and that he would do anything for him. That made me smile; I liked to imagine Thranduil being all fatherly and stuff and a little less kingly.

My train of thought led me somewhere I'd never ventured before and that made me feel like a complete idiot. Where was Legolas' mother? Elves didn't strike me as creatures that supported (or even knew of) divorce and separation and all of that crap, so I doubted that that was the case. Even though I curious, I didn't want to ask Thranduil, in case it was a touchy subject.

"Legolas." Thranduil spoke suddenly.

I looked up, realizing only then that I'd been staring at my feet, and saw Belathron, Aravaethil, and a very confused Legolas. Thranduil beckoned for him to come and he obeyed, eyeing me with suspicion.

"I found her a few moments past, wandering alone. Perhaps next time you leave her in someone else's hands, you should ensure that they know Paige better."

Legolas squeezed his eyes closed and I sensed an explosion coming on. He surprised me though, speaking in a very calm voice as he replied. "I will keep that in mind. Belathron, Aravaethil, we shall further discuss this matter later. It seems I must deal with something else at the moment."

His eyes opened again and he stalked straight by me. "It is late. Let us get you back to your room, Paige."

I could hear the irritation in his voice and I frowned. Thranduil gestured for me to follow Legolas and, even though I really didn't want to, I did, not wanting to make matters any worse.

When we were out of earshot of the other elves, I dashed to Legolas side and said, "I'm just going to say…. This is still your fault."


	15. Surprises

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

To say that Legolas got more strict after that would be a huge understatement. He was utterly obnoxious after that, but at least he talked to me. Granted, it was to nag me not to do 'this' or 'that' or _to_ do 'this' or 'that', but that was better than the creepy, stalkerish silence that had followed me before. Now, I just felt like I was being followed around by a really grumpy father who didn't want me to do anything 'stupid'.

"You know, I totally don't understand why you're still single," I muttered sarcastically one day while eating breakfast. He hardly ate anything, making me feel like a total pig as I shoveled down lots of fruit and bread and he watched me. "You're so charming…."

"Single?" He asked and I realized that that must be a term only in my world and not here.

I nodded. "Yeah, like, not dating anyone."

"Dating?"

"Oh, my God, do you guys know anything here? Why do you not have a girlfriend, Legolas? Or a wife? How old are you anyway?"

He looked so stunned that I would've laughed if I hadn't found the whole situation so sad. "I am a lot older than you and I do not have a wife because I have not-"

"Don't you _dare_ say 'found the right elf yet'."

He just sort of sat there, stumped, and I felt so cool. I'd stumped the smug ass of an elf and he'd actually almost fed me that ridiculous line! Now that was one thing that I wish had stayed in my world; bullshit sayings.

"Just…. Never mind. Wait another millennium and you'll find her." I rolled my eyes.

He surprised me by laughing. "I am not concerned about that at the moment. It is hardly my priority."

I snorted. I actually believed that; maybe he was gay…. I had nothing against gay people, but for some reason, I really didn't want Legolas to be gay. _Oh no, no, no, no_; _Paige, you are not attracted to him_! Dammit! I was totally attracted to him. Only physically, I didn't like him, I just thought he was hot. His personality still sucked, but he was really good-looking and all.

I coughed, not wanting to think of that any more. "So, um, archery. Yeah, that's what we're doing today. You're going to teach me. We're gonna, um, yeah, shoot some arrows. Let's get going, princey."

Not waiting for a response, I jumped up and ran toward my room (which I could actually find on my own now) to grab my bow. I made it in and out before my brain could even process what was going on, and then I headed for the gate. Legolas was behind me, making small sounds of objection and confusion, but I ignored them and told the guards to open the gates. Legolas apparently nodded, which was the only reason we were allowed outside. One of the problems with handing out with the prince was that the guards listened to him and him alone.

I walked to the place he and I used to go before turning to Legolas. He was looking at me like I was completely mental, so I just grinned.

"Let's begin!" I clapped enthusiastically.

"Are you well?"

"Yeah, of course! Let's begin, shall we?"

And begin we did and guess what? I was still the worst archer ever. I couldn't decide if it was from lack of practice or just because I was me, but I needed Legolas' help way too often and, after my revelation of my attraction to him, I didn't like him touching me at all. In fact, I kept flinching away from him, earning a questioning glance from him each time that I ignored.

Most of the day went on like that, but he eventually gave up trying to help me and he simply observed, leaning against a tree and shaking his head in amusement from time to time. I tried my very best to ignore him, but it wasn't working out too well. He was rather difficult to ignore, especially now.

"Stop staring at me," I muttered.

He laughed softly, not responding other than that, but that was enough to make me scowl as I shot my next arrow and the one after that. Why was he always so smug? Why was he such an ass? Oh, right. That's why I didn't actually like him. He was nice to look at, but boy, was he ever a pain in the ass! That's why he was still single; he'd yet to find someone who would put up with him. A voice in my head reminded me that that was probably also the reason that _I_ was still single. There were very few guys who'd want to put up with me.

"Any advice, oh wise and noble prince?"

"Aim?" He teased.

There were some colorful words I would've use then, if it hadn't been for the elf girl that suddenly showed up, beaming at Legolas as if she had wonderful news. _Oh, great_, I thought, _what now?_

"Tolo ar nin, Legolas." She said cheerfully. (Come with me, Legolas.)

"Am man?" He replied. (Why?)

Her smile grew. "I anfang teli."

I was surprised when a pleasant spark in his eyes. "What? What's happening?" I demanded.

He continued to stare at the elf, but he answered me. "The dwarves are coming."


	16. Dwarves

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

In the days that followed, I saw more elves out and about doing chores than ever before. What was the big deal about dwarves? I didn't know if I really wanted to meet them because when I was little, the dwarves on Snow White had scared the living snot out of me and I was convinced that I was still traumatized by that movie. Why did seven little men live together in a cottage in the woods? Seriously, Disney, can you say _awkward_?

There was a bright side to them coming, though. Legolas was busy preparing for their arrival, so he brought me along with him wherever he went and I actually made some more elf friends, which was good. Aravaethil was wonderful, but she was busy and now that she was no longer in charge of watching me, I almost never saw her.

At one point in all the preparations, I was left with Thranduil while Legolas went to do God only knows what, and I was surprised to find the elf king the least enthusiastic about the company that was to arrive within a matter of days.

When I'd asked him why, he'd replied, "The dwarves and elves have never seen eye to eye. However, my son gained an unlikely friend in a dwarf during a quest, so I welcome them here."

I couldn't help but wonder about the quest and I felt a deep connection with all of the elves (minus Legolas) who shared my feelings about dwarves. They were so…. Bubbly and singing and not washing their hands and…. see? This is not the stuff a sixteen year old girl should remember about a movie she hadn't seen in years.

Thranduil told me that there was going to be a party when they arrived and I found that just peachy. Maybe I'd just go to bed every night the dwarves were here so that I could miss out on all the 'fun'. Then Legolas could go spend time with his dwarf friends and I could have five minutes peace, no elves and no dwarves.

The day the dwarves arrived started out like any other, but things very quickly changed when there was a loud yell from behind Legolas and I, scaring me half to death and causing both of us to whirl incredulously.

The dwarf didn't look anything like Snow White dwarves. He wasn't dressed in bright colors and he wasn't wearing a weird Santa hat. He was dressed in what looked like armor, but I didn't know for sure because he had a very long, red, scruffy beard and hair to match. His face was not appealing in the slightest, though he looked nice. _Deception, Paige, he's a dwarf_… He still scared me crapless.

"Elves," the dwarf said in his gruff voice.

Legolas laughed. "It is good to see you, too, my friend."

The dwarf smiled. "Yes, but I do not think your father thinks so."

"No," Legolas shrugged, "he does not. That is no matter; you are still welcome here."

The dwarf looked like he was about to respond, but then his eyes found my face and both of his eyebrows shot up. "Who's the she-elf?"

"She is no elf. She is Paige. Paige, this is Gimli, son of Gloin."

I waved my hand. "Sup." I squeaked out.

Both Legolas and Gimli laughed and then started to walk and speak as old friends, leaving me to follow, being sure to keep my distance, and listen with utter bewilderment to their conversation. I heard something about a ring and something called a hobbit and many weird names like 'Frodo' and 'Gandalf' and Galadriel' and 'Aragorn'…. I eventually just gave up listening because I knew I wasn't going to understand.

When Legolas brought me up, I zeroed back in and completely forgot about my dwarf fears for a moment.

"Watch it, elfy," I warned. "I may be in a dress, but I can still attempt to kick your smug ass."

Both turned to look at me and Gimli roared with laughter. Legolas didn't quite know how to react, so he just shook his head, glancing between Gimli and me. My hands were on my hips and I was giving him my very sassiest face.

"The lass has spirit." Gimli managed between laughter.

Legolas agreed. "That she does." But he didn't look annoyed. I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all as he observed me, making me shift uncomfortably.

We carried on, Legolas saying very little about me, treading carefully, I assumed. Even though I still didn't trust him, I found Gimli funny and by the time I went to bed, I could tolerate being around him just fine. In fact, I was interested to know more about dwarves, to know if they were anything like they were painted to be.

The next morning, after I was dressed and ready for the day, Legolas and I almost immediately met up with Gimli, even though Legolas had promised to practice archery with me. I grumbled until I realized that we were still going and Gimli was tagging along. As long as I learned how to fight, I didn't care who came along.

The more time I spent with them, the more I realized that Legolas and Gimli were best friends. They teased each other often because of the relationship between elves and dwarves and they talked about weapons and battles they'd been in and then they talked about the orc attack on Mirkwood. Gimli found it hilarious that I'd called them cannibals, even though he didn't know what the word meant, so I explained. Both he and Legolas looked thoroughly repulsed, which was completely understandable to me; someone eating another person was just gross.

Legolas helped me and again, I felt weird butterflies when he touched me. I tried to squash them, but it wasn't working nearly as well as it should have. Gimli was surprisingly quiet while Legolas helped me and his face was thoughtful. That definitely didn't help matters, in my ever so humble opinion.

When I got so frustrated, I had to take a break, Legolas and Gimli started speaking again.

"You know, she reminds me of my wee lass." Gimli said, pointing at me. "Of course, my lass doesn't look like an elf, but they have the same fire in them."

I frowned. Was he comparing me to a dwarf? "You have a daughter?" I asked slowly.

He nodded, his chest puffing out with pride. "And two sons. What can I say? The dwarves mature faster." He elbowed Legolas as he said the last part. "I've been married for twelve years."

I giggled, covering my mouth with my hands. As much as I'd objected to him at first, Gimli was growing on me. I'd yet to speak with the few other dwarves that came with him, but that was okay. I was taking life one dwarf at a time.

"Ay, you look like an elf." Gimli carried on. "Even so, my Rissa would like you."

I sighed. "I'm not an elf. I don't look like one. I'm too short to be an elf and I'm not classy enough."

"She speaks the truth," Legolas mumbled, grinning at me wryly.

"Careful, princeling, I have a feeling that she is not one to anger." Gimli advised, though he didn't seem to be actually concerned.

Legolas held his hands up. "I meant no offense. Besides, you are correct; she does look a bit like an elf."

He was staring at me so intently that I blushed, playing with a chunk of my long hair so that I had an excuse not to look at him. I didn't agree with them; sure, I was pale like an elf and my hair was long, really long now, after being here so long, but my eyes were light blue, no silver in them and I was shorter and a little bit more filled out than the elf women. They were all twigs and I had always been sort of petite, but nothing compared to them. I had hips and boobs and they had…. Well, nothing.

"Shall we continue?" Legolas pulled me from my thoughts.

I peered back up. "Yes. Let's carry on."


	17. Gimli

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

*(GIMLI'S POV)*

Never in all my life had a met a lass with such spirit as Paige. She had no trouble speaking her mind and she did so frequently, much to my amusement. She didn't possess the soft-spoken, gentle nature of the elves, but that was part of her charm in my eyes. Legolas was different, but I still didn't care for most of his pointy eared kin any more than they cared for dwarves.

Paige…. What a strange name. I'd never heard of an elf or a human with that name and I could not think of a meaning for it. Still, in some way, it suited her well. She was too fair to be human, but too crude to be an elf. She spoke like a dwarf.

Legolas spent much of his time with her. He claimed to me that that was because his father had told him that he had to supervise her and keep her out of trouble and, while I didn't doubt that for a second, I didn't think that was the whole reason. I'd caught him staring at the pretty girl more than once and not simply in the way of one 'supervising'. Only two days had I been here and already, I could see that he was fond of her.

"How many of you came?" She chirped to me curiously at supper. "And how long will you be here?"

"Oh, trying to get rid of us, are you?" I teased, though she apparently did not realize as much.

"No, no, I'm just wondering."

I chuckled. "There are seven of us here."

Her face went sour. She started muttering something about mines and singing animals and a girl called 'Snow White'. Legolas and I exchanged a glance he was very obviously entertained and somewhat familiar with this. Again, I saw that gleam in his eye that I had never seen there before. He'd met many women during our quest to destroy the one ring and never had he gotten that glint.

"I'm gonna go to bed." Paige announced before scowling at Legolas. "Do you think I can make it there myself or do I need you to hold my hand?"

He sighed, but I could see that he was still amused. "I will trust that you can make it there yourself this time."

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, _mom_. Goodnight." She smiled at me briefly. "Goodnight, Gimli. I'll see you tomorrow."

She walked away, quickly disappearing from sight. I did not know how she could possibly sleep so early, but I was glad for the opportunity to speak about her with Legolas. He might've been able to hide his feelings from his pointy eared friends, but I was not so clueless as them, especially not seeing how he watched her go.

"Pretty lass," I noted.

Legolas looked at me, his face composed. I almost laughed at the foolish elf prince for thinking that I would not realize that he was fond of the girl. I knew him too well to miss such a thing, especially when he made it so clear. Perhaps, he had only stayed with her because he was told to, but now there was something more.

"Do you not think so?" I challenged.

Legolas frowned. "I did not say that."

"Ay, you did not. Do you not think her fair?"

"I do not think of it."

He spoke stiffly, touchy about the topic at hand. I had to fight to keep from laughing and he remained impassive. Stubborn princeling. Granted, I had wondered if he would find the right lass to settle down with, but I'd always imagined that if he did, he would be eager to do so. Maybe it was more to do with Paige than with him; perchance she intimidated him. At that thought, I did laugh.

She seemed to like the elf as well. Her mouth stopped working whenever they practiced archery together and she would for once take on the feminine restraint that elf maids all possessed. She would also blush, which suited her fair face, and avoid looking at Legolas altogether.

"She is quite unusual."

Legolas smiled. "That she is."

"You know, I wouldn't mind having to watch her. She is an entertaining lass with the spirit of a dragon. I don't know why it bothers you."

He was taken aback. "It does not bother me."

That was what I'd been hoping for; him to be a little bit honest about what he thought of her. I pushed a little further. "Oh, really? If it doesn't bother you, why do you sigh and scowl at her so often?"

"She does not comprehend the meaning of danger. She will wander alone into the forest only to stumble upon a pack of orcs or she will lose her temper and forget to watch where she is going and nearly fall off a cliff. She does not listen to basic instructions that are only put in place to keep her safe." Frustration seeped from every word, but not the kind of someone that did not care; it was a protective frustration that only confirmed my suspicions. "I am the second assigned with the task of keeping her out of trouble."

"Why did she not stay with the first?"

"Because the first was not attentive enough and my father agreed with me-"

"Oh, so it was your idea to watch over her?"

"No. That was my father's idea. I simply requested she be with someone equal to the task."

I processed all of that, all the while plotting to get more information out of him. Did his father see the same thing I did? King Thranduil surely wanted a guarantee that Legolas would have an heir to the throne and he most likely did all in his power to find a wife for his son. On the other hand, I was unsure if Thranduil the great would allow his son to pledge himself to a human who would produce mortal heirs…. Unless I was correct in my assumption that Paige was no human.

It was true, she did not look like the Mirkwood elves, but she bore a striking resemblance to the elves of Lothlórien. In fact, she resembled the lady Galadriel with her innocent face and fair blue eyes, though Paige was smaller and her hair was a few shades darker, more of a gold than a blonde. Perhaps Paige came from Lothlórien; Legolas had never mentioned how Paige had come to be in Mirkwood.

"How long has she been here?" I asked.

Legolas pondered that for a moment. "I do not know. Not yet a year, though longer than visitors stay. Then again, she is not a visitor."

"Where did she come here from?"

"A land called Texas, in another world. We do not know how or why, but she appeared in the forest one day and my father decided to take her in and keep her safe. We do not know anything about humans where she is from, so we do not know what to expect for her. We assume that her life span will be short, as humans in Middle Earth do not live long lives, but she may prove to be different."

Snorting, I took a bite of my food for the first time since Paige had left. "I think she already has."


	18. Party

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

I've never liked parties. Crowds are not my thing and people all being loud and way too close and personal and flirtatious…. I honestly couldn't figure out why people found them fun. When I'd first heard that there was going to be a party for the dwarves, I'd thought that maybe it wouldn't happen, but one morning, the fourth day they were there, I was woken by an extremely enthusiastic Aravaethil, who told me that she'd had three fancy gowns made for me and I had to pick one for the party that night.

Even though all of the gowns were beautiful, I spluttered and argued and fussed about the party, eventually resorting to saying I wasn't feeling well. Aravaethil basically told me to suck it up and pick between the three exquisite dresses in front of me, laid out so I could see every little detail.

Hmm…. It was hard to decide. One was brown, but incredibly feminine and flowy. Brown just didn't say party to me and if I had to go, I was going to go in style. I quickly outed that one and moved on to deciding between the other two.

The one was plain blue with beautiful, golden ribbon accents over the arms and bodice. The sleeves were tight, with long over sleeve things that made it look all the more spectacular and the ends of them were also trimmed in golden ribbon.

The last one looked fit for a queen. It was silver and blue, a stunning, sophisticated pattern, with gold clasps in the front. It was simpler than the last one, yet more dramatic and I knew that it was my favorite. It was too perfect not to pick.

Once I had it on, I sat down at the vanity and let Aravaethil do my hair. I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing, instead pinching my cheeks and biting my lips to give them some color before I realized that it was just morning and I had all day. When the revelation hit me, I demanded to know why I was already being forced into a fancy gown and getting all gussied up when I could be practicing archery or sleeping or something somewhat useful. Aravaethil just replied that there were many things to be done for the party and she would not be able to get me ready later, all the while still doing my hair. After that, I'd asked where Legolas was and she'd told me that I wouldn't see him until after I was ready for the party. Humph. For once, I would've actually preferred to have him there instead of Aravaethil.

When she was finished with my hair, it was so intricately woven, I wondered if I'd ever be able to get it out. It looked great, but I didn't want it like this for the rest of my life. It was almost long enough that I had to move it to sit down… I didn't like it that long and I planned on cutting it back up to my waist.

As I was sliding the matching silver shoes on, Aravaethil announced that we were going to get some 'things' to spruce up my outfit. I stared at her incredulously, convinced that I was as extravagant as I would ever need to be, but she ignored my look and beckoned for me to follow. I did, but, being Paige, I grumbled the whole way to wherever we were going. However, I stopped as soon as I realized where that was.

The room of jewels, the ones I'd been so bewitched by when I'd escaped Nóruivael. The room with the beautiful crowns and necklaces and rings. But I couldn't wear those! I couldn't wear any of that! I was a human and they were way too pretty for me. I didn't feel worthy of it and I didn't want to get weird looks.

"You need…" Aravaethil mused once we were in the room. "A necklace, definitely. And a ring… And… a circlet."

I shook my head. "No. No, no, no. No way. I'm not wearing elven jewelry, especially not because I don't have the king's permission, but also just because no. No, no, no."

She laughed. "You have the king's permission. I asked him early this morn when I was coming to wake you. He thought it a wonderful idea. Here."

She handed me a ring that was shaped like a lily, with leaves and branched around it. I slid it on my finger, admiring it the whole time, still feeling bad about the fact that I was wearing it, when a matching necklace was fastened around my neck. I glanced at Aravaethil ruefully and she just looked amused, carrying on with her task.

I followed her as she looked for a circlet/crown for me, but stopped as soon as I saw the one that had so hypnotized me last time, the one with the diamonds and leaves. It was still my favorite thing in the room, hands down, and still, I didn't dare touch it. A few seconds later, I was glad.

"Do not touch that!" Aravaethil ordered, a hint of alarm in her tone. I jumped and stared at her quizzically. Was it super fragile or something? "It cannot be touched by anyone."

"Umm…. Why?"

"Because it is charmed. Its owner charmed it and gave it to King Thranduil for safekeeping. Anyone other than she who owns it will be burned wherever they touch it. Please, for your safety, _do not_ touch it."

I suddenly had a new appreciation for the circlet, though I also feared it now. What was wrong with elves? Were they really so possessive that they had to protect their things with such violent means? Maybe it was just my human brain talking, but that sounded a bit extreme to me. 'Touch my things and you die'. Yup. Definitely good friend material.

"Ahh, this one will do nicely."

Aravaethil brought a different circlet over, silver with pearls here and there. She set it gently over my hair and then beamed, stepping back and looking me up and down. Her eyes shone with pleasure.

"You are beautiful. Our elven jewels suit you well."

I blushed. "Thanks, I guess."

"It is time for me to return you to Legolas. He is near, in the weapons room; it will not take long to find him."

She was right. It took only a few minutes to reach the room, which we entered quietly, not wishing to disturb the conversation that was taking place. Legolas, Belathron and Gimli seemed to be discussing something far more serious than a party and I wanted to know what it was. None of them noticed that we were in the room until Aravaethil cleared her throat.

"Legolas, I am returning your responsibility to you so that I may go follow the orders of the king."

All three men-ish things turned and, the second they saw me, stared. I felt a bit uncomfortable and I could feel my cheeks turning pink, but it was worth it. The look on Legolas' face was so, so worth it. His mouth had actually fallen open and his eyes were wide. Belathron bore the same expression, but it was so much more satisfying on Legolas. Only Gimli seemed to not be shocked out of his mind. He smiled at me.

"Well, the lass is all ready for the party tonight, I would say," he joked.

Belathron snapped back to reality. "Indeed. Aravaethil, you may go. We have her."

Aravaethil nodded and left, but it was okay. Legolas was still frozen in place, looking at me as though I was a completely different person and I could no longer contain my amusement, bursting into a fit of giggles as I approached them.

Gimli joined after a moment and then Belathron, all of us finding Legolas' reaction hilarious and not able to conceal that fact. He finally came out of his state of shock and glowered at us each in turn.

"There is much left to discuss." He told Gimli and Belathron sharply. "Paige, we will only take a moment. Stay here."

I snorted. "Where else am I gonna go?"


	19. The Start of the Party

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

I was right to hate parties. For starters, I spent most of the day gussied up before the party even started, receiving a lot of glares from girls as I walked with Legolas through the city and I had no doubt that they were aiming to be Legolas' little Mrs. It wasn't my fault that Legolas and Thranduil didn't trust me, but these girls all seemed to think it was.

About half an hour or so before the party began, Legolas left me with Gimli so that he could get dressed and help with any final details or things involving the stupid party. And I was horrified because I'd just started to like Gimli and he went and ruined it by interrogating me the second Legolas was out of sight.

"You like elves?" He asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Sorta, I guess. They're a little weird, but I guess I don't mind them."

"I meant do you like _that_ elf." He gestured in the direction Legolas had gone, making me so flustered that I swore, my head should've turned into a tomato.

"No." I said stiffly. "I mean, yes! As a friend. That is it, Gimli. Drop it."

He smirked, but did indeed let it go, which was good because I may have punched him if he hadn't. I was still trying to figure out how to understand my own feelings for Legolas. I was pretty sure I didn't like like him still, but I was attracted to him, so maybe I did like him and I was just too stubborn to see it.

Gimli and I headed to what was known as the main hall to wait for the party to begin and most of the elves were already there, as well as the other six dwarves who'd accompanied Gimli to Mirkwood. Even Thranduil was already there, sitting at the front of the room in a strange throne-like thing. In fact the only elf that for sure wasn't there was Legolas and I wondered why. Did pretty boy seriously need to take this much time just to get ready for this? Really?

Right as I was thinking that and scanning the room, in he walked, looking hotter than ever before. I didn't know if it was because of his princely appearance or the fact that his face actually held a pleasant look, but he looked damn good. I fought really hard to keep from looking as ridiculous as he had earlier.

His eyes met mine and I quickly looked away. Okay, so maybe I did like him a little. Or a lot. Okay, so I'd never liked someone as much or even this is way before. Even though he drove me crazy sometimes, I'd never had anyone care for my safety the way he did. I know he hadn't been thrilled about watching me and I hadn't been too happy myself at the time, but he'd care enough to go to Thranduil in the first place and he felt protective over _me_. I'd never had that before. My parents had never been abusive, but they hadn't protected me, loved me, and no one truly had. Legolas was the first person who'd ever cared about me and even though I _knew_ he didn't 'love me' love me, I also knew that it mattered to him whether or not I lived or died and it was a good feeling.

"Go on, lass." Gimli encouraged, nudging me toward Legolas. I glanced at him, not realizing that I was smiling.

But my life was no fairytale and I'd barely made one step when an elf stepped in front of me. I almost glowered at him, but I somehow managed to keep my smile plastered onto my face even though I really just wanted to shove him out of the way.

"You must be the human girl." He said, his green eyes twinkling.

I nodded. "Yeah. I am."

"I am Coredhel."

"Cool." I tried to step around him, but he stopped me.

"What is your name?"

I sighed. "Paige."

"May I have a dance?"

And don't ask me why, but I accepted, maybe in the hope that after 'a dance' was over, I'd be free to go find Legolas. I really didn't want to dance with him, especially not once we started and I realized just how weird Elvish dancing was. It was slow and graceful, yet overly difficult because you had to coordinate about a billion moves at once. If Gimli or Legolas had been near, no doubt they would've teased me and lightened the mood, but Coredhel just stared at me, talking about himself the whole time.

I wasn't as blind as Legolas to flirting and I knew this elf was hitting on me, but it was very unwelcome. I did nothing to encourage him, not smiling at him or asking any question or even saying anything. In fact, I just watched my feet making an annoyed 'hmm' every now and then in response to something he said. Could he really not take a hint?

No. It seemed he could not because three songs later, we were still dancing and he was _still talking_. I didn't even understand what he was saying by this point talking about someone named Valar that sounded an awful lot like God and I had no clue how that had come into the one-sided conversation.

"Excuse me, what time is it?" I interrupted. "How long have we been here?"

He paused, thinking. "Nearing an hour, I suppose."

A course of action occurred to me and I feigned horror. "Oh, dear! Prince Legolas told me he wished to speak with me. He is my supervisor after all, and I do not think it wise to keep him waiting. Sorry."

I yanked myself away from him, running through the crowd of elves, trying to seem desperate to find Legolas. Well, I was desperate to find him, so I wasn't acting. I would find almost anyone to escape the conceited elf.

When I spotted Legolas with Gimli, I almost sang with joy and sprinted at them. The both looked up when I got close and I beamed.

"You know, I really appreciate having the two of you as friends." I said gleefully, feeling so much more relieved now that I was back with my 'people'. "Gimli, I'm sorry for thinking that you were a scary Disney character and Legolas, I'm sorry for being so difficult all the time, it's just in my nature."

They shared a look and both started laughing, Legolas louder than I'd ever heard him laugh before. It was a lovely sound, making my smile widen. I didn't even care that they thought I was kidding; I was too happy to care. Coredhel was insufferable.

"I think she has had a few too many drinks," Gimli roared.

Legolas nodded. "Paige, how many drinks have you had?"

My eyes went wide. "There are drinks here? Oh, I'm gonna need some of those. I was just with the most obnoxious elf boy I've ever met. I mean, I wanted to punch him in the face, but I didn't want to make a scene at a party."

"What elf?" Legolas asked, no longer laughing, just smiling.

"His name is Coredhel, and jeez, was he ever arrogant!"

"Yes, he is." Legolas agreed. "How did you get away?"

I blushed. "I told him you wanted to talk to me about something."

"You used me as an excuse?" Legolas didn't seem angry; in fact, he seemed almost flattered.

"_Ha_!" Gimli yelled victoriously, pointing at me as if he'd made a point and I realized that he was referring to our conversation from earlier. I glowered and he immediately stopped, explaining it away by saying, "Smart lass. Hey, how about a dance?"

I nodded stiffly. "That would be lovely, Gimli."

We walked to where all of the elves were dancing and he took my hands, which was a little awkward because of his three foot stature. True, I wasn't tall, but I was _not_ three feet. I was sure it looked even funnier than it felt.

"What was that?" I demanded of him angrily.

He just grinned. "I was right. You fancy the pointy eared princeling."

I stuck my chin out, not willing to admit it to anyone but myself yet. "No, I do not. He is my friend and you are mistaken. Give it up, Gimli. The elf prince and I? Not going to happen."

"Okay." He chuckled. "Well, if that is the case, I suppose you would not mind leaving him behind and seeing Middle Earth. You can come with us back to our home and, since you like the elves, I can take you to Lothlórien or Rivendell. Or perhaps you would be more comfortable with humans, like yourself."

I froze, stunned. Was Gimli suggesting that I leave Mirkwood and Legolas behind and never come back? I couldn't do that…. Could I? No. The thought of leaving Legolas and Aravaethil and Thranduil was too painful.

"Why don't you run it by him?" Gimli suggested and it clicked. He wasn't actually asking me to leave; he was giving me a way to test the waters with Legolas.

I dropped to my knees and hugged him, grateful. "You strange, strange dwarf…. I think I will."


	20. Happy

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

Once Gimli and I were done our dance, we headed back over to Legolas, who'd been watching us with a pleasant smile. The second we were back with him, Gimli announced that he had to go talk to someone (using my excuse) and insisted that Legolas and I dance in his absence. Legolas agreed, taking my hand and leading me away from an overly smug Gimli.

Because of my discovery, I had to look down as Legolas placed a hand on my waist so that he wouldn't see me blushing. I didn't even know how to talk to him now and I didn't know what to do. It was very different to be touched in this way than to be touched as he helped me with archery and it made me feel like…. Well, a girl. I didn't very often feel that way because I didn't often _act_ that way. I wasn't the 'fluff' and 'unicorns' and 'pink' girl that got all stupid around the guy she liked, but that was exactly what was happening now.

"What did Gimli say to you?" He asked.

I glanced up. "Nothing. We just talked."

"Oh?" He looked amused. "I know Gimli too well to believe that."

"Well, clearly not." My sass came back and I could finally keep my eyes on his face. "He didn't say anything important. He just…. He asked me if I wanted to go with him and the dwarves when they leave Mirkwood. He said he could take me to other humans or show me the lands of other elves, if I want to go."

Legolas' eyes widened. "He has asked you to leave Mirkwood?" All hint of pleasantries had vanished from both his face and his voice. I couldn't help the victorious cheer in my head; Gimli was too smart of his own good.

"Yes. I'll have to ask your father, of course, and I'm not sure yet if I want to, but I am thinking about it." I lied. I wanted to live in Mirkwood. "Gimli thinks it might be better for me to be with my own kind."

Legolas didn't reply, nor did I expect him to. Our dance continued in silence, and when it was done, he excused himself, not giving a reason why he was leaving. Fine by me; it gave me the opportunity to twist the knife in a little deeper, to see where his feelings truly were regarding me. It was time to talk to Thranduil.

He hadn't moved out of his chair since the beginning of the party, so it didn't take long to get to him. He was smiling fondly at all of the elves, almost like they were his children. He really was a great king; I had no doubt that the elves adored him and would be sad to see him go. Not that he was going to die. No, no, Aravaethil had taught me that elves can only die in battle or of a broken heart, but that they and many others sailed 'into the west', whatever that meant. One day Thranduil, too, would travel to the west, never to return to the land of Mirkwood. Hell, _I_ was sad at the thought of him leaving and I would probably be dead before it happened.

"King Thranduil?" I asked when I was near enough for him to hear me. He looked at me, his face welcoming. "May I speak to you about something?"

"Of course."

"Well, Gimli has invited me to go with him and the dwarves when they leave Mirkwood. I would not feel right about going without talking to you about it first, and I'm not even sure if I want to, but you know…. I thought we should discuss it."

"I do not think it wise for you to leave the safety of Mirkwood, especially not with seven dwarves guiding you. It may sound strange, but I care for your welfare, henig. I do not know why you came to be in my kingdom, but nothing is without reason and I believe that it is my duty to ensure that you are taken care of." He spoke earnestly. (Henig = my child) "If you truly wish to go, I will not stop you, though I hope you do not choose that path."

I shrugged, not able to speak momentarily because I was so touched by his answer. I awkwardly cleared my throat. "I understand. I am still talking to Legolas about it; feel free to do the same, if you want. I'll probably stay. I like it here. And…. thank you. For everything."

He looked at me affectionately. "You are welcome here, henig, and you always will be. Where is my son? Why is he not with you?"

"I don't know. We just danced, but he said he had to go and I needed to talk to you, so…. Do you want me to find him?"

"No. You may go back to enjoying the party, if that is what you wish."

I shook my head. "I think I'm ready to go to sleep. I will speak with you about this more later. Goodnight!"

With a curtsy, I was off, squirming through the dancing elves and dwarves until I was out of the room and heading toward my large, comfortable bed. I hummed softly to myself as I went through the empty halls, reveling in the peace it brought me. It had been a good day, in spite of the fact that I'd been forced into a fancy dress and been asked to dance by a self-centered snot of an elf who needed a taste of reality. For the first time in my whole life, I was completely happy.


	21. The Truth Will Out

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** _This one's for ThurinRanger, who reviews EVERY chapter and loves Thranduil for the good king he is! Thanks for being so awesome!_

*(THRANDUIL'S POV)*

My son was fond of Paige, that much was plain, but to what extent…. That was the question. At times, he acted as though he didn't want to be her protector, but then there were the times when he seemed quite taken with her, in a way that he had never been to anyone else before.

I myself liked the girl a great deal. My only child was Legolas, yet Paige was so young in her actions and way of thinking that I could not help but see her as a daughter. She needed protection, affection and _constant_ supervision, just like all young children did and she had been so helpless when she had stumbled upon Mirkwood, the reason for which was still unknown to me. All I was certain of was that she was safe and content here.

She fit in well here, in spite of how different she was. She brought life to Mirkwood, something it desperately needed. She also brought a smile to my son's face, which was something, before she came, that was very rare. He had never regarded any elf with the same look he gave to her and I did wonder if, perhaps, he was starting to love her.

I sighed. Dwelling upon such things without being able to truly explain them was a waste of time and I was supposed to be overseeing the party that was being thrown in the dwarves honor. That was still rather difficult for me as the hatred between dwarves and elves ran deep, but my son was close with the dwarf, Gimli, so I tried to live with it.

Try as I may, I could not focus on the party, not after what Paige had told me. It did nothing to improve my opinion of them, asking her to leave Mirkwood with them. I did not trust them with her safety, nor would I under any circumstance.

"My lord, Legolas has requested to speak with you." Aravaethil approached, bowing her head.

I thanked her, rather glad that I had to leave the party momentarily as she gestured to the hall when mentioning Legolas. Despite the slight relief at being away from the dwarves, I could not help but worry about my son. He would not leave the party in honor of his friend without good reason.

Legolas had not gone far from the main hall, but he was pacing when I found him. He halted when he saw me, his face tight with anger.

"What has happened?" I asked him, keeping my voice controlled so my concern would not be obvious.

"Has Paige told you yet that Gimli has invited her to leave with the dwarves?" He demanded. I nodded, still concerned. Legolas trusted the dwarves; why did this anger him so? "Please tell me that you did not grant her permission."

I truly could not figure out where his thoughts were. "I told her that I do not think it wise, but that if that is what she chooses, I will not stop her."

He looked utterly horrified. "You have left the decision entirely up to her to decide?"

"Yes. It is her choice what she does."

Legolas shook his head furiously. "No! She will walk into a pack of orcs or fall off of a cliff if she does not have someone watching over her. She is reckless; she will get herself killed without supervision. How could think it a good decision to tell her that it is her choice? You could have stopped her; she respects you."

My thoughts traveled back to where they had been earlier. "Legolas, do you truly believe that she will die if she leaves, or is there something that you are not telling me?"

He froze. "What do you mean?"

"I have seen you with her, seen how you _are_ with her, and it is different than you are among others. It is not hard to see that you regard her with fondness." I paused, trying to see if his face would tell me anything. "I cannot help but wonder if she means more to you than anyone else has."

"What are you suggesting?"

"That you may see her as more than a friend."

He still had not moved at all and he continued to stare at me. I was almost certain that I was correct and, though I did not know why, I hoped I was. Paige would be a good match for him, and he for her. I would not go so far as to mention _that_ until Legolas responded or, at the very least, _moved_, and that could take quite a while.

"And if I do?" His voice was so quiet, I had to strain to hear him.

It was my turn to be stunned. Yes, I had hoped for it and a part of me had expected it, but I had presented so many elf maids to him and he had never shown them interest. He had never shown interest in any human before either, so while I thought this a great thing, it was also shocking.

I finally answered him. "If you do, that is wonderful. You are good for each other."

He sighed, seeming relieved. "You think so?"

"Yes. I do." I smiled. "I also think that you should tell your dwarf friend as much so that he will not press the issue and convince her to leave. I am certain that if he knows your reasons, he will not mention it again."

With a grimace, Legolas nodded. "He will not mention her leaving, but he will mention _her_ and often."

"I do not doubt that."

He started to walk back toward the main hall, but he turned and gave me a grateful look, saying nothing. He had been worrying about my reaction, wondering what I would think, and he clearly did not think it would be pleasant. Yes, she was human and that may cause a problem, but I was determined to find a way to make things work for her and Legolas. They deserved happiness.


	22. Confession

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

Sleeping in is glorious. You know, sinking into those comfy pillows, pulling your blankets up to your chin and just _resting_. It was something that I really liked to do when I stayed up late the night before. It was what I was planning on doing the night after the party.

Unfortunately, my lovely elf prince had different idea.

He woke me at the freakin' crack of dawn, opening up the curtains to the balcony, and blinding me through my closed lids. I groaned, rolling over and tucking my head under one of the pillows. I didn't want to wake up. Couldn't Legolas just go away and come back later? Sure, I wanted to see him, of course I did…. Eventually. Not that early.

Legolas wasn't going to take no for an answer though. He pulled the pillow out from under my head and lifted me out of the bed. My eyes flew open and I stared at him in complete shock. What on earth did he think he was doing? I didn't like the fact that he pulled me out of bed one bit. Well, okay, I did like it one bit because of the amused look on his face.

"Put me down," I yawned, not sassing him for once.

He noticed, too, smirking. "What? You are not going to insult me? Or yell? Or kick?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "No. I'm way too tired. Just put me back in bed and come back in four hours. I'll be more pleasant when I wake up again."

"Actually, I think this is the most pleasant I have ever seen you." He teased. "Besides, I am waking you because the _dwarves_ sleep in and I thought you might want to practice archery without any additional company."

"Ooh, okay! Put me down and get out and I'll change and get ready!"

He chuckled. "That is what I thought you would say."

He left and I quickly changed, tugging my hair up into a messy bun. I really did need to cut it. Maybe after Legolas and I trained today. Or maybe not. I was sure that I could find something better to do. Maybe I'd go see Aravaethil. It had been too long since the two of us had been able to really talk. Then again, that was partially because of my prince friend who followed me around everywhere I went.

Legolas and I went through the city and through the gates swiftly but quietly, despite of the fact that the guards gave us strange looks. We went to our usual spot and things started like they always did. Well, other than the fact that Legolas and I could both see actual improvement in my archery skills. He complimented me and I did a little, internal happy-dance.

He still helped me, which made me blush like none other, but much less than before. He kept his distance for the most part and that kept my head clear, so I was okay with it. Not gonna deny, I kind of wished I still needed his help, but now that I could kind of do it on my own, I needed to focus.

"You are doing very well."

I turned and beamed at him gratefully. "Thanks. Hold on."

I dropped my bow and started rolling up my sleeves. It was hot and even though I knew it would hurt my skin to shoot without something covering it, I didn't want to get sweaty and gross in front of Legolas. I was trying to _impress_ him, after all.

I lifted the bow back up and got into position, ready to shoot, when Legolas gasped, horrified. Startled, I jumped and stared at him quizzically. Had he seen an orc? Why was he walking toward me? Why was he staring at my arm? Why was he _grabbing_ my arm? I was so confused.

"What happened?" He asked softly, looking at my left wrist.

That's when it hit me; he was looking at my cuts. It had been so long since I'd felt that soul-crushing depression and cut myself and I'd been wearing long sleeves all the time, I'd never even _begun_ to think that they would ever be noticed. My wall, which had been crumbling, rebuilt itself in that moment and I just stared at him blankly, not giving anything away. Even when he brought his eyes to mine, full of concern, I didn't show any emotion.

"Paige, what happened?" He repeated, a little more forcefully.

He had to know that they were not recent injuries. They were scars. At the same time though, I could not picture an elf having a problem like this, so I didn't want to admit it. I didn't want to admit it anyway as the only two people I'd ever admitted it to basically told me to suck it up and realize that I had a 'wonderful life'. It wasn't like I had been cutting for fun. I was depressed and when I started, I was just fourteen. I didn't know how else to handle what I was feeling.

Legolas decided to try a new question. "Who did this to you?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I yanked my arm out of his grasp and shoved my bow into his hand, walking to a tree stump nearby and sitting on it. I wasn't stupid enough to run off anymore; one too many cliffs, but I also couldn't stand to see him looking at me like that, so much pity and worry in his gaze. He would never understand. He would think I was just being dramatic, like my parents had.

Legolas came and knelt before me, his face not far from mine. He took my arm again, very lightly, and examined the scars. What was he thinking? Was he imagining some tragic story about how they got there? Probably. He was probably thinking that whatever had happened, I was the victim. I didn't know if I was or not. I didn't feel like it was my fault, but there was no one else to blame.

"Paige. You can trust me." He whispered earnestly.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing. I don't want to talk about it."

"Paige-"

"Please!" I was rather impressed that I'd managed to keep any tears from coming to my eyes until then and even so, they didn't spill over. "Please, stop. I don't want to talk about it, Legolas. It is in the past; it doesn't matter now."

He frowned. "Yes, it does."

Why was he making this so hard on me? Then again, why didn't I just tell him? He took care of me like no one else ever had and he was actually worried about me. My parents, before I'd told them, had seen the scars (or cuts, as they were at the time) and simply told me to 'put on some band aids', not even bothering to ask what had happened. Not even Jace, my old _best_ friend, hadn't noticed or cared to ask. Still, I was afraid to tell Legolas.

"I don't want to tell you," I admitted, my voice oddly childlike. "I don't want you to think I'm weak."

He surprised me by laughing. It was not an amused laugh, though. "You are far from weak. I do not believe anything you tell me will change my mind about that."

I sighed. "Do you really want to know?"

Legolas nodded. "Yes. I do."

"I did." I paused, taking a deep breath, for I knew a whole speech was on its way. "I did this to myself. It was a while ago and I didn't know what else to do. I felt empty and sad and lonely and just plain miserable and this seemed like a good way to keep my mind off of things. Of course, it isn't, the logical part of me has always known that. But no one was there. There was no one I could talk to. Believe me, I tried. I tried to talk to my parents about it, but they told me I had no reason to feel unhappy, you know, even though they've left me alone practically my whole life. My mom shipped me off to daycare as soon as she could. They never wanted a baby, but instead of giving me to someone that would, they kept me and then pretended I wasn't there. They thought I would be fine to be alone all the time and I got used to it, but I _hate_ it. I hate being alone and I…"

I trailed off. Tears were streaming down my face by this time and I couldn't bear to see Legolas' face. I looked down, trying furiously to wipe my tears off with the back of my hand. I had been strong for so long about this topic, even taken it lightly just so that it wouldn't hurt to think about. I'd never told anyone how abandoned I felt or how much I wanted to have people care about me. Telling him brought me both relief and worry. It felt good to say the words aloud, but I still worried to the point where knots formed in my stomach about what Legolas was going to say.

He moved his hand to mine, holding it tightly in his. "I am sorry. I am sorry that you have had to endure such a life. No one deserves such treatment or lack thereof. It is not your fault. I do not understand either why this seemed like the best thing to do, but not everything can be made sense of." He gently lifted my chin so I was looking at him. "You are not alone. There are many here that care for you."

I sniffled and nodded. "I know," I muttered. "I'm not used to it yet, but I do know it. I don't want to leave Mirkwood."

He looked so relieved, it was almost funny. Almost. "You do not have to."

It was shaky, but I managed a smile. "Can we go back? I want to sleep. And I'm telling you, princey, if you start complaining that it's the middle of the day and not time to sleep, I swear, I will have Gimli hang you from a tree by your feet."

He snorted. "I knew the familiar Paige would not stay away long. She simply cannot refrain from making 'witty' comments, can she?"

"Nope."


	23. Not a Good Kind of Crazy

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** _**P. S. This is a longer chapter, but if you want more, leave a review! ;)**_

The next day, I woke on my own, no assistance from Legolas or anyone else. I changed into my new archery clothes, which Aravaethil had so kindly provided, and headed to find some food. It was surprisingly difficult; elves didn't eat very often. Oh, and they didn't _need_ to sleep. They would, if they had nothing better to do, but it wasn't necessary. I was beginning to think that it may have something to do with the air here because I was finding that I was feeling more alert and the need to sleep was slowly waning.

I ended up finding lembas bread, which was some Elvish specialty and one small bite would fill you right up. I was still unsure of how I felt about it. Part of me actually enjoyed, you know, eating, but the other part of me found it quite convenient. I could tuck it somewhere and keep eating it throughout the day and not have to worry about carrying some big bag of food around with me.

My plan was to go back to my room and wait for Legolas to come get me so that we could practice archery, but that's not quite what went down. I got maybe halfway back to my room when a hand clamped over my mouth and the other wormed around my shoulders, dragging me back. I screamed, despite the hand muffling the sound slightly.

"Do not be afraid." It was a familiar voice, but not familiar enough for me to place. "I only wish to speak with you."

I was released and Orthaderyn, the healer elf-girl, stepped in front of me. I blinked, thoroughly confused. "What the hell…? What do you think you're doing?"

"There is something I need to show you. Do not be afraid."

Okay, this elf was just plain weird. I'd sensed that from the first time we'd met and every time I'd seen her since, she'd only confirmed my suspicions. I didn't know if I wanted to go with her, or if I was even willing. She was either a raving lunatic or a complete genius, but I really couldn't tell which.

"What do you need to show me?" I asked cautiously.

She smiled. "You shall see, hiril vuin." (Hiril vuin = My lady.)

I was curious, and even though 'curiosity killed the cat', I wanted to know what she was going on about, and so I agreed, following her. She was silent as we walked and that was a bit strange, but most elves weren't that talkative. Legolas and Aravaethil spoke more than most, but I wondered if that might be just because they had me talking to _them_ all the time.

When we reached our destination, I knew exactly where we were. I'd been here only two days ago, and I wasn't ever going forget it; it was the room of jewelry. But what did she want to show me here? I'd seen it all before. Unless…. Unless there was some magical, hidden drawer holding something more spectacular than the leaf circlet that belong to the awkwardly possessive elf.

I waited until we were inside to ask the obvious question. "Uhh…. What are we doing here?"

She said nothing, walking toward the pretty circlet until she stood right in front of it, peering down at it. "None can lay so much as a finger upon this. None but the rightful wearer."

"Right. Because he or she is, like, super sensitive about people touching it."

Orthaderyn looked at me briefly. "She is not sensitive about any touching it."

I raised my eyebrows, impatient. "Okay, you said you wanted to show me something. If this is it, then I've already seen it and I'm gonna go."

"I said I wished to speak with you, hiril vuin. I wish to tell you a story, a bit of our history that is still being written."

"Mmkay…. Go ahead then, if you really have to. But Legolas will flip a bitch at me if he thinks I've run off, so make it _quick_, please."

She didn't seem to hear me. "Do you know of Lady Galadriel?" I shook my head, sighing. "Lord Celeborn? Lady Celebrían, perhaps?" Again, I answered 'no'. Where was she going with this? "Lady Galadriel held one of the rings of power, nenya. I am almost certain that you do not know of the rings, the one ring, but I believe that you will know. Lady Galadriel is an elf. She was the lady of Lothlórien and Lord Celeborn is her husband. Their daughter is Lady Celebrían, and she was the Lady of Rivendell, another elven realm. All have cross the sea, into the west, and that is why this crown is here. Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel entrusted its safekeeping to King Thranduil until their daughter comes to retrieve it."

I interrupted, already completely baffled. "But wait, you just said their daughter, Celebrían or whatever, went into the west with them."

"She did indeed."

"Then how the hell is she supposed to come get it?!"

"I am not speaking of Lady Celebrían. I speak of her sister, Merillain, the young daughter of Lothlórien. Many believe Merillain to be only a legend, but the elves know better, chiefly here in Mirkwood where this," she gestured to the crown, "waits for her return."

"Return from where?"

Orthaderyn's face grew mysterious. "That is something that no one knows. No one but the lady, Galadriel, and Lord Celeborn. They left her in the care of mortals, hoping to conceal her in a time of war. They told King Thranduil that she would return when the time came for her to do so. She herself does not know who she truly is. That, hiril vuin, is why I brought you here. No mere mortal from another land would simply come here of their own accord. I have been pondering your arrival and I cannot help but wonder-"

"If I'm an elf." It wasn't a question. It was a completely sarcastic comment. I'd figured out about thirty seconds before that that's where she was going and I could no longer keep my disbelief inside. Yup, she was just crazy, no genius in her. I was not graceful enough or beautiful enough to be an elf and my ears _definitely_ did not come to points. The fact that she was even entertaining the idea was disturbing.

"You may think it odd, but it does make sense. You have not aged a day since you came here and you grow stronger and more agile by the minute. You shake your head," (you bet I do!), "because you think of yourself now as you always have, but you are not the girl who stumbled into the trees of Mirkwood. There is something special about you, hiril vuin, and all in this land know that."

I laughed so hard I was clutching my stomach before I responded. "There's something special about _you_, and not in the good way."

"I understand. You are too frightened to believe that I could be right."

"Yeah, and you're too crazy to see that you're not."

Orthaderyn didn't seem bothered in the slightest about all the insults I was throwing in her face and that was good because if she kept trying to tell me that I was long-lost elf duchess/lady or some such nonsense, I was going to keep doing it.

"Please. Whether you think me mad or not, touch the crown. Prove me wrong."

"What's going to happen to me?" I frowned.

She paused. "If I am correct, nothing. But if you are correct, if you are not Merillain, it will burn you where you touch it."

I gasped, stepping away from her. "You think I'm stupid enough to touch that thing and get burned? Are you kidding? _You_ can touch it all you'd like, but I'm going to go. If you know what's best for you, you will stay away from me because you scare the living hell out of me and I tend to get just a little crazy and violent when I feel threatened. Oh, and also? If you mention this conversation to _anyone_, I will come after you. I don't need anyone else calling me an 'elf' or a 'lady' or telling me my mother is some powerful elf-witch named Galadriel!"

Orthaderyn gave me a disapproving look. "I will not speak of our conversation and I will not come near you. If I am correct, we all shall know in due course. Years, even decades, are of little consequence to an elf."

I backed out of the room, not daring to turn my back on her, lest she chuck the burning crown at me. Once I was out of the room though, I darted away as fast as I could, confused and a little bit frightened by all that Orthaderyn and just said. She needed to be locked up. She was gonna turn into an axe murderer.

I kept glancing over my shoulder, panicking that she might be following me, but she wasn't. Even so, over and over, I looked, the horrible feeling of fear knotting my stomach in uncomfortable ways. I didn't like feeling afraid in Mirkwood; it was my safe place.

"Whoa, lass, slow down!" Gimli's booming laugh greeted me as I turned another corner. He hobbled over to me, a huge grin gracing his face. "There you are! Think you're clever, hiding from a dwarf and an elf? The pointy-eared princeling is not pleased with you, running off like this."

I scowled. "I didn't run off anywhere. I ate breakfast and then I was heading back to my room when…"

I stopped myself. I didn't want to tell Gimli, or anyone else, about what had happened, just as I didn't want Orthaderyn to say anything. That was okay, I was good at coming up with excuses. Fine, no, I never have been, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I still dream of the day when someone will buy my crap tales.

"I got distracted." I finished lamely.

Gimli's smile melted off his face. "What is the matter, lass? You look like you've seen an orc."

I forced a chuckle. "No, no orcs. Nothing's wrong…." Quickly, I changed the subject. "I assume that Legolas has told you that I'm staying here? I'm not leaving Mirkwood with you and the dwarves. Sorry."

Gimli's good spirits returned. "No, he has not mentioned anything of the sort. I only just saw him, not long ago, and he was scurrying around looking for you. Perhaps he thinks you left all on your own. Ha! Wouldn't that be a sight…."

"It certainly would. I'd run into another damn orc pack with my luck."

He nodded with a great chortle. "Come, lass. Let's not let him keep worrying; too much longer anyway."

**(CHAPTER BREAK)**

Gimli was not kidding when he said that Legolas was 'not pleased' with me. He gave me the longest lecture I'd ever heard…. In Elvish. That was why it was funny when I told him I had no intention of getting into any trouble. Even though I knew he didn't believe me, it stopped his rant short. He sort of just stared at me dubiously, unsure of whether he should drop it or keep yelling (hopefully in English, if that was the path he chose.) Gimli made his decision for me by grabbing my hand and pulling me away from him, toward the gate. Flustered, Legolas followed, tossing around words like 'foolish' and 'safety' and 'truth'. I wasn't sure how they fit together, but the amusement it brought me momentarily blocked my thoughts of Orthaderyn.

Turned out that Gimli wanted to practice archery to take Legolas' mind off of 'things', aka _me_. I understood. I liked Legolas in a good mood, too, and I dearly loved Gimli for thinking the same way I did. I was also glad for the opportunity to watch Legolas really use his bow, rather than just using it to show me how to use mine. He could shoot multiple arrows at once and he could hit his target dead on while in motion, some motions I didn't know were possible. Gimli was torn on whether to watch Legolas or my face. Apparently, my expression was pretty darn hilarious.

"Legolas?" I asked, a little timid as I didn't know if he was still angry or not.

His boyish grin was enough to ease that fear. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning and I knew that this was something he loved to do. I smiled at him.

"Do you think I'll ever be able to shoot more than one arrow?"

Gimli coughed to cover a laugh, but Legolas didn't even try to hide his. "It is possible, but I doubt that you will have the patience to get to that point. You are welcome to prove me wrong though."

"Oh, you bet. That's exactly what I'm gonna do, elf-"

I stopped talking _immediately_, stunned to silence. Thranduil stepped into the clearing and that may not sound that special, but I'd never seen Thranduil outside the gates. Gimli straightened up; he was intimidated by the elven king and I sort of understood why. Legolas was the only one who looked like this was a normal occurrence.

"Legolas, come with me."

Gimli and I exchanged a glance and Legolas obeyed. He walked over to his father, setting his bow against a tree before gazing at Gimli.

"Will you watch over her in my absence?"

Gimli stepped in front of me. "Ay. You go attend to your elf business. I'll keep the girl out of trouble."

"I still can't keep myself out of trouble?" I demanded, a little offended.

The only response I ever got was three matching looks that clearly said 'no' from two elves and a dwarf.


	24. Confirmation

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** _Review for more! :)_

Nearly two months had passed since Orthaderyn's bizarre confrontation and I had not seen her since. I wasn't complaining, but I'd thought of our conversation often. She was crazy enough that I wondered if what she'd told me was indeed legend. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she had made it all up and, in her head, it seemed very real. Maybe, in spite of her insanity, she would make a good writer. She was certainly creative.

In those two months, my feelings for Legolas only grew, but I was too stubborn to mention them. He kept a poker face so much of the time that I really didn't know what he would think and I was too cowardly to say anything, even after the dwarves left and Gimli (obviously) stopped giving me a hard time. Plus, Legolas seemed really troubled as of late, although I didn't know why and he never mentioned any useful information about it.

I had been quite sad when the dwarves left. I'd gotten to know each of them better and I liked them all, but Gimli best of all. He'd looked a little upset himself the day they were leaving, though I knew he was glad to be going back to his wife and children. In his last week in Mirkwood, he spoke of them, constantly telling Legolas and I stories about things that they'd done.

The only completely happy thing that happened in those two months was that my archery skills improved to the point where I could hit anything stationary dead on. Legolas had me working on moving targets and it was freaking _hard_! I was struggling with it immensely, but I never gave up.

I sighed as I thought back over the last two months. I was leaning against the railing on my balcony, staring out at the dawn. Lately, I'd hardly been sleeping at all, feeling totally fine not to. My energy did not wane, despite the lack of sleep. In fact, my energy levels were higher, too, and my appetite had lessened. Damn Mirkwood air, messing with my whole system…. At least I still had some curves, unlike the beanpole elf-ladies.

Impatiently, I glanced back into my bedroom, at the door, waiting for Legolas. He'd started coming to me earlier in the mornings and he was late. I decided to take it as an opportunity to cut my hair yet _again_. I'd cut it to my waist and it had grown right back out again. This time, I took it up a few inches higher, hoping that would give me more time before I had to cut it again.

The door opened right as I finished pulling my newly cut hair back in the typical, elven half-up/half-down. I peered up to see Legolas entering, face pulled into a frown. I frowned right back.

"You're late."

He gave a half smile. "And you are observant."

I stuck my tongue out, flipping my golden hair over my shoulder. I didn't like that his smile was false, but at least he was teasing me. That was somewhat a good sign. Still, he'd not been content since the day Orthaderyn spoke to me. He was fine until Thranduil asked to speak to him, but whatever he'd said must've been bad to keep Legolas like this for so long. I wished there was something I could do to help, but nothing good came to mind.

"We cannot practice today. There is much that I must see to. I asked Aravaethil to watch over you, but she cannot. Therefore, Orthaderyn will care for you."

Whirling back around, my mouth dropped open. _What_?! If he wasn't kidding, I was going to absolutely kill him.

"No way. You're not serious?" I asked hopefully.

He nodded. "I am indeed. She is outside those doors, waiting. Come; I must be going, as must you."

I knew better than to argue, no matter how much I wanted to. I just followed Legolas, pressing my lips together to keep from saying anything stupid.

Once we were outside my room, Orthaderyn gave a polite curtsy, aimed more at me than Legolas. _Smart girl_, I thought, _treading carefully_. _She knows that I'll kick her ass, no problem, if she starts talking crazy again_. It was strange though, her bowing to a mere human girl over the elf prince. _Oh, yeah. I'm an elf lady in her mind_. I almost laughed aloud at the thought. How was I going to make it through the day with her as my guardian? She was a bigger danger to me than anyone else.

"Hiril vuin," she greeted me. "I trust that you slept soundly?"

"Uh huh." My answer was curt, which earned me a sharp look from Legolas. "Uh, yes. Not long, though. I'm not very tired anymore."

She smiled knowingly. "Shall we go, hiril vuin? The prince has much do. We must not keep him from his duties."

I nodded reluctantly and then gave Legolas a hopeful look. "Will I see you at all today, Legolas?"

His face softened. Wow, was he ever handsome…. Especially when he was happy or, at the least, not sad or worried. His eyes bored into mine. "Yes. Worry not; we shall see each other at supper."

That helped the situation a little bit. He quickly parted, surprising me immensely by placing a gentle kiss on my hand before he left. I gawked at him as he went, Orthaderyn's soft laughter sounding in my ear. That didn't even bother me. My skin felt warm where Legolas' lips had been and I could feel the warmth spreading through me, turning my cheeks bright pink.

I recovered quickly from my blush and Orthaderyn and I were off. She'd said nothing since Legolas left, but I didn't mind. We just walked through the city silently, not even going in a particular direction. She left the leading up to me, so I was sure that she probably knew where we were even though I did not.

We passed King Thranduil on our little adventure, and his expression looked very much like Legolas'. When I briefly caught his eye, he forced a pleasant look on his face, but I obviously didn't buy it for one second. Did he really think me so young and foolish that I wouldn't be able to see that something was wrong around here?

Once he was out of sight, I turned to Orthaderyn, breaking our silence. "Okay, what's going on around here? Why is everyone so depressed? What's happening?"

She sighed before answering. "Mirkwood did not used to be called so. It fell under the influence of the Necromancer during the third age. Before that occurred, this forest was known as Greenwood the Great. Prince Legolas does not remember the forest like that, as he was very young, but that is where he received his name; the green leaves that grew on the trees. His mother, our queen, was quite fond of the beauty of Greenwood and she always knew that her son would be as well."

"What happened to her?"

"She was killed when the Necromancer took over. It brought a great sadness upon all of our people. She was well-loved, a good and worthy queen." Orthaderyn's face was so forlorn, I almost felt sorry for her. "This place has not been the same since her passing. The Necromancer turned our kingdom dark and filled it with a darkness we have fought to lift. It has started to since the war of the ring was fought and won, but darkness still lingers in the shadows of the trees. We are troubled because there are orcs, spiders and other foul creatures invading our lands. The king and the prince are deciding what our best path is."

"That doesn't sound good." I panicked. "That sounds really, really, _really_ bad. What's the Necromancer? Is it still here?"

"_He_ is not. He _was_ Sauron, but he is gone. Even so, his curse remains on our lands and we must vanquish it." She suddenly placed a hand on my cheek, startling the hell out of me. "Do not fret, hiril vuin. No harm shall come to you."

I was so startled, I didn't comment on the fact that she was touching me. "What's hiril vuin mean?"

Her laughter reminded me of bells and her hand slid from my face. "My lady."

"Hmm."

I pondered what she'd said…. Mirkwood was in trouble? And it used to be 'Greenwood the Great'? Oh, how I wished I could see that, tall _green _trees and an enchanted looking forest. I also wished I could've met Legolas' mother. I was sure that, since Thranduil had loved her, she was been a wonderful woman. Pity filled me for both Thranduil and Legolas, particularly the latter. He had hardly known his mother. That just didn't seem fair. Then again, life wasn't fair, but….

I was going to carry on in the direction that I was going, but Orthaderyn touched my shoulder, scrutinizing me closely. "My lady, when is the last time that you saw your own reflection?"

"This morning…. Why?"

"Did you look upon yourself closely?"

What the hell was she getting at? "No."

"Come."

We went around the corner and down another hall, before coming to a wall made of only mirrors. I glanced at myself in it, wondering if I had something on my face, but I did not. What on earth was Orthaderyn talking about?

"Do you see, hiril vuin, what I speak of?"

"No. I really don't."

"Look upon your face. See what changes there do lie. Your face as changed; you are no longer what you once were."

Was she talking crazy again? I stepped closer to the mirror, trying to really see myself, and I was stunned to find that she was right. I _did_ look different. My eyes were the same, but the lashes around them, which had always been thick, were now longer and a dark black. My cheekbones were more pronounced, my jaw slightly softer, and my hair, that used to fall straight, now fell in the slightest of waves. How had I missed all that? I started turning my head from side to side, seeing if anything else was different, and I saw that my ears, though only slightly, were coming to points at the tips. Okay, how had I missed _that_? I looked like a frickin elf! Was _I_ going crazy, too?

"You see the changes."

I swallowed loudly. "Yes. I do. What does it mean?"

"It means that you must reconsider the idea that I may be correct."

I scowled at that, yanking my hair out of its style. Using it to cover my ears, I walked away from the mirror. This was all ridiculous. I was seeing things and giving into the beliefs of a mad woman. I needed to get my head back on my shoulders and stop listening to her. Nothing good ever came of her words.

"Hiril vuin, please. You have seen now yourself that you are no mere mortal girl. If I am wrong, I shall never breathe a word of this to you again, but if I am correct, it will explain much of your life. Will it not?"

Hmm. She had me there. It _would_ explain a lot about my parents, but at the same time, it was also raise more questions within me and I didn't know if I wanted to deal with that at the moment. Then again, never hearing about it again would be really nice and I'd burned my hand on a frying pan before. This couldn't be that bad…. Could it?

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

She was absolutely thrilled, rushing along so fast, I could barely keep up. Damn her and her longer legs! I was sprinting after her, my steps surprisingly light on the hard ground. I'd never liked running, not even a little bit, but at least it got us to our destination quickly. We were there before you could say 'Texan waffle hut'. Well, maybe not, but you get the point.

We went directly to the pretty crown and I stared at it longingly. If only the crown was mine and not everything that went along with it, I'd love life.

I took a deep breath, feeling Orthaderyn's gaze on me, intent. Reaching down, I touched the crown with my pointer finger _very_ lightly.

Nothing happened.

I added my thumb and middle finger, seeing if the burning would start, but it didn't. Strange. Grabbing it with my whole hand, I lifted it up, showing Orthaderyn.

"You must be wrong." I decided. "I don't feel anything."

She knelt into a bow. She was bowing to me. "My lady."

I giggled. She really was crazy. She'd fed me that story to keep me afraid of touching it by saying it would burn me and absolutely nothing had happened. It was quite comical now. She'd been dragging me along for two months, fearing both her and the circlet. If I told anyone the story, they'd laugh so hard at me, actually believing that this crown belonged to some long-lost elven lady.

"We must go tell the king." She stood, eyes bright with excitement.

"Yeah, _no_. You're crazy. You know, you really had me going there for a while, afraid of this. You're a good liar, you know that?"

"I have lied about nothing, hiril vuin. King Thranduil must be informed-"

"Okay, I'll talk to him." I lied. "Alone. And same as before, you're not allowed to say anything to anyone, got it?"

She thought for a moment before deciding. "Yes, I understand. I shall take you to the king and leave you to speak with him. I shall not say a word to anyone; that will be up to you and the king."

I set the crown back where it belonged and stalked out, Orthaderyn at my heels. We wandered back toward my room, the direction we'd come from, but turned down a different hallway. She was sure she knew where Thranduil would be and I was playing along with her for the time being; I sort of pitied her for her insanity.

*(CHAPTER BREAK)*

Orthaderyn had been right about where she'd thought Thranduil would be. She entered a room, telling me to wait where I was, and swiftly returned with the elven king. She curtsied to us both and then was off, leaving Thranduil and I to talk alone. The poor dear…. Thought I was going to tell him I was some elf.

"All is well?" He asked.

I nodded. "Oh, yes! She was just telling me a story that I didn't understand and she said you could better explain it to me. A story of the crown in your room of jewels. She told me that the crown belonged to an elf named Merillain who was sent off to be with humans for protection or some such thing. The elf's mother came here to give the crown to you for safe keeping. I just don't really understand. It is true or is it just a legend?"

I'd said all of that with the hope that he'd tell me that none of it was true and that he had no idea what she was talking about. I wasn't so lucky.

"It is true." He was clearly puzzled. "Has she told you it is only legend?"

"No. I-I just…." I was worrying. Holy shit… "Is it true that no one but her can touch her crown without being burned?"

He nodded. "Until she has claimed it, none but she can touch it. Why do you ask?"

"I was curious." I squeaked. "I gotta go."

And I took off before anything else could be said, too stunned to talk about it anymore. He had just confirmed her words; I was an elf.


	25. Thinking Things Through

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** _**You'll have to review if you want more! ;)**_

Life is all a big lie. That's what I'd decided, pacing my room back and forth, feeling my pointy ears with my fingertips. How had _this_, my true identity, kept itself hidden for so long? It was beyond weird that I'd gone all my life without having my elf ears and I suddenly had them. It was beyond weird that I'd been sent to Earth to get away from Middle Earth. And it was most definitely beyond weird that Orthaderyn wasn't crazy at all. She was the most observant creature I'd ever known.

She hadn't come looking for me since I ran away from Thranduil or, if she did, she hadn't found me yet. I was grateful, for it gave me some time to process everything going on, everything that came with my newfound knowledge. I was an elf, so I had to remember all that came with that. Unnatural beauty and grace. Hmm…. I was still waiting on those two things. Pointed ears and higher energy levels. Check. Better hearing and vision. Well, sort of. It had improved since I'd arrived in Mirkwood. Immortality. Holy shit. That was just…. A _long_ time to imagine myself being around, staying young. It was hard to wrap my brain around.

Throwing myself onto my bed, I stared at the ceiling, searching for answers there. I finally understood my parents distance; they hadn't wanted a child and I was somehow sort of dropped upon them with no warning. I wasn't even _their_ child. At least I was a surprise, not the good kind though. You know those boxes of chocolates you get at Valentine's Day and sometimes, you bite into one and you're really pleasantly surprised? Yeah, not that kind. I was that nasty chocolate that you want to spit out but know it'd be rude to. It made sense that my parents had always viewed me as a burden. I wasn't theirs to bear.

I don't know how long I was in my room, lying on my bed, before someone came to find me. I'd crawled completely under the covers, as if trying to hide myself from the truth, and shoved my face in a pillow, kind of like a Disney princess. When there was a knock on the door, I made no movement. I didn't even move to look up when I heard the door open and somebody slip into my room.

The blankets were pulled back and a hand settled on my back.

"Paige?" Legolas' concerned voice was right by my head. "Are you ill?"

Ha! Didn't I wish…. I wanted to be alone though, so even though it wasn't true, I nodded, scooting just barely away from him. His hand stayed on my back, a comforting gesture. I still wanted him to go, leave me to my thoughts.

He only sounded more worried when he spoke again. "Do you need to see a healer? I will go get Orthaderyn."

My head snapped up at that and I stared at him pleadingly. "No! I'm okay. I just don't feel too great. It'll pass. Just let me sleep and I'll be fine."

He frowned. "If you are not well, you must see a healer. I will go to Orthaderyn and bring her to you. I shall also bring your supper when we come back. Please do not do anything foolish in my absence. Do _not_ run off. Please. I am begging you."

I scowled, but agreed. "Fine. I'll wait here while you go get her."

He left quickly, not bothering to shut my door behind him. I didn't mind. I wouldn't have gone anywhere, even if Legolas hadn't asked me to stay. I was where I wanted to be for the time being and no one, not the prince, not a 'healer'-genius, not even the king himself could change that. Still, I wished Legolas wasn't going to get Orthaderyn; I was terrified she was going to bring up the whole 'oh hey, Paige is really an elf' thing.

Legolas did not take long to return with a bowl of soup and Orthaderyn at his side. I sat up and took the soup from him and started to eat it while he spoke softly in Elvish to Orthaderyn. She kept glancing at me, a hint of frustration in her eyes that I didn't understand. Of all the nerve…. What did _I_ ever do?! She's the one who shattered my image of reality!

"You are not well?" She asked me doubtfully, seeing through my charade. "What is it that troubles you, hiril vuin?"

I swallowed back a bunch of soup before replying. "I'm tired, that's all. Legolas was concerned, so he came to get you, but there was really no need. I'm okay. I just need to sleep and I'll feel better. Thanks for coming to check up on me though."

She looked really irritated then. "Prince Legolas, she needs water. Would you please go and get some for her?"

He agreed, leaving the two of us alone in my room. She glowered at me darkly and I still didn't know what her problem was, so I ignored her and pretended I was all alone, enjoying the delicious elven soup Legolas had brought me. I had no clue what was in it, but it was so good. I wondered if it'd be okay to eat some for breakfast the next day.

"He does not know, does he, _Merillain_?" She demanded through gritted teeth. "You did not tell King Thranduil, did you?"

I shook my head. "No. I didn't. I'll tell them when I'm ready. Butt out, would you? You've already done more than enough."

"You are a fool," she hissed, stalking out of the room. She stopped right in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder at me. "There is a danger seeking you, hiril vuin, one that you cannot evade on your own."

And she was gone. Humph. Stupid, cryptic elf. What the hell did that mean? Was she referring to orcs? If so, I already knew that. Orcs and spiders and other foul creatures, or so I'd been told. Did she honestly think I planned on going out and fighting those things? Ha! Yeah, right! Even _I_ wasn't that much of an idiot and I did some pretty dumb stuff. I was terrified of spiders! Why would I go looking for them? And orcs? Yeah, I hadn't much cared for them either.

Legolas returned moments later, water in hand. He looked around the room and then at me, quizzically. "Where is Orthaderyn?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. She gave me a clean bill of health though, so there's no need to worry anymore, princey." I grinned. "Don't worry; she didn't leave long ago. I would've had no time to escape, even if I'd wanted to. Now, if you wouldn't mind leaving me alone, I'd like very much to rest."

He scowled, eyes narrowing. "I had thought that you would want to practice?"

"No. I just want to rest. I'll see you in the morning."

It was clear that he knew all was not well, but he knew better than to push it. He handed me the water and examined my face for a moment. I looked down, not able to meet his penetrating stare. He finally took the hint and, with a gentle squeeze of my shoulder, he left me alone to my thoughts.


	26. Spiders and Arrows and Orcs, Oh My!

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** _Shout out to Ambassador of the Gigantes, who guessed my dear Paige's weapon of choice! Nice job! :D __****You'll have to review if you want more!****_

Archery didn't seem to be my thing; yes, I'd picked up on the basics, but I just wasn't grasping it as I felt I should've. Legolas kept telling me how well I was doing, but I had a feel that it wasn't my true weapon. It didn't make me feel the way it made Legolas feel. Archery was his thing and he was good at it and it made him happy. Me? It just made me frustrated. So, what did I do? I found a new weapon. I went back to the room where I'd found my bow and I looked for something new. I tried elven swords and daggers, even throwing knifes, but none of it worked for me. Then I found it, my happy blade; a sickle.

It looked as beautiful as it did deadly, in the shape of a half moon. The handle was golden and there were strange markings, Elvish, I suspected. It also seemed to have an engraved dragon tale, wrapping again and again around it. It felt good in my hands and I could feel a stupid grin spread across my face. I was lucky I was alone or I'm sure I would've been teased. As it was, I was supposed to be asleep as far as Legolas was concerned, since he still thought I was human. I hardly ever slept anymore. I found other things to occupy my nights, oftentimes sneaking down from my balcony with the elaborate rope device I'd made out of some of my dresses.

It had been two weeks since I'd found out I was an elf and I had no doubt now that it was true. I hardly slept (and I pretty much never had to) and I stopped tripping so much (thank God), which was wonderful. The only real problem was that I was extremely jumpy when Legolas or Thranduil or any other elf came to talk to me with a serious expression. My mind started with the whole '_oh shit, they know, they know, they know!'_ and I'd act like a complete ditz, spluttering and using lots of 'uhh's. All in all, not good. I would have to find a way to control that….

The night after I'd found my lovely sickly, which I affectionately called 'reaper' (yeah, I know, not the best name, but it reminded me of the grim reaper!), started like any other. Legolas took me to my room and bid me goodnight, closing the door on his way out, and I immediately put my boots on and hurled my rope device off the balcony, ensuring that it was securely tied to one of the railings. Next, I climbed down, all the way to the forest floor, and then I took off running, deep into the forest of Mirkwood. I was amazed that no one had found my little trick yet, but I was happy. I didn't like being stuck inside all the time.

I ran through the forest, my footsteps so light, they were hardly audible, not sure where exactly I was going. I never wandered the same way twice when I snuck out, so it felt like a completely new adventure every time. This time though, I was determined to get to the beautiful waterfall I could see from my balcony, but had never seen up close.

It wasn't far, but when I got there, there were many elves standing guard, weapons in hand, aimed in all directions. Right off the edge of the waterfall, Legolas, Aravaethil and Belathron were talking. I cursed under my breath and hid behind a tree, peeking around the corner to listen in on their conversation. For once, they were speaking English.

"More orcs come each night, Legolas. They are growing stronger and bolder. We will not be able to hold them off much longer. We must gather all the members of the guard and strike them down." Belathron was saying.

Legolas' face was more troubled than I'd ever seen it as he looked between the two elves. "I do not think that we have much time before we have a war on our hands."

"We do not," Aravaethil said in agreement. "And there are those who are beginning to sense that there is something wrong. Orthaderyn has told me that Paige has questioned if all is well."

Legolas looked at her sharply. "What did Orthaderyn tell her?"

"The truth."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why would she tell her? Paige has no need to know of such things. She will not take the threat of orcs and spiders as seriously as she should. She does not know the nature of them and regard them with proper caution."

Belathron placed his hand on Legolas' shoulder. "I am certain that she will not put herself in harm's way. She has encountered orcs before; she knows enough of them to know that they are dangerous and foul. I do not think she would choose to be near them anymore than she has to, Legolas."

Damn straight, I did! I didn't want to be anywhere near the 'cannibals' ever again if I could help it. Why was Legolas stressing out about me not being cautious when it came to orcs and spiders? I took spiders _very_ seriously. I wasn't going to go looking for them. I'd nearly come to tears when I would see a wolf spider back in Texas. I sort of doubted that the spiders here were that big, but even so….

"There is no need to worry for her now. She is safe in her room, asleep." Aravaethil spoke in a comforting voice.

"You are right. She is safe. For now." Legolas grimaced.

I started to slowly back away from them, deciding that the waterfall could wait until daylight when I didn't have to worry about being caught by Legolas because he would be with me. I managed to get far enough away that I was sure that they wouldn't be able to hear me and I started running again, heading in a new direction instead.

I'm not sure how far I went before I stopped in a clearing, the first place outside of the city where I could see the stars. Oh, I'd always loved stars. Back in Texas, I would go into my backyard and lay on the grass, staring up at the sky until the starlight faded into sunlight.

I gazed up at them, amazed by how many there were. Of course, I could make out no constellations here as the stars were in different formations. There was no dipper, that was for sure. The elves probably had constellations of their own, but I obviously would not know how to find them or what they were even supposed to look like.

Without warning, an arm was around me, holding me painfully close, and a cold blade was at my throat. I froze, knowing that no elf would _ever_ announce their presence in such a way and recognizing the disgusting, beef jerky-like flesh that belonged to orcs. Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. This was very bad. If this orc didn't kill me, Legolas would.

"I found one." His breath was hot on my neck, making cringe. "Shall we give her to _them_?"

Them? Who's _them_? This was getting worse by the second. Who was the orc talking to? How many orcs were there?

"A she-elf? Yes, she'll do quite nicely." Another orc replied, stepping front of me and scrutinizing my face, a little too close for my liking. "Give her to me; I'll take her to them while you find more."

_Oh, hell no_. As soon as orc number one let me go, I yanked my sickle out from its hiding place in the folds of my skirt and wasted no time in swinging it at orc number two's neck. His head fell clean off his shoulders, rolling to the ground with a loud thud, quickly followed by his body. I turned toward the first orc to do the same to him when two more popped out from behind trees and grabbed me.

One took my hands and the other took my ankles, lifting me off the ground the way the parents do when they're about to swing their child. I started screaming as loud as I could, hoping to all hope that someone, _anyone_, would hear and come help. I didn't want to be taken to 'them', whoever they were.

I stopped my screaming as soon as the first orc shot a warning arrow over me, mere inches from my face. Holy hell, they meant business. Where was Legolas when I needed him?! Then again, it would probably be better for someone else to find me so that I wouldn't be lectured for hours on end in Elvish.

My thoughts were interrupted when I was caught in something sticky and the orcs let go of me. Luckily, they hadn't taken my sickle from me, so it was still in hand, but I couldn't move. I tried pulling my arms down to fight the orcs who watching me, sick pleasure twisting their already horrible features, but my arm would just spring back painfully, as if I was in some bungee rope thing. I couldn't even move my head enough to see what it was I was actually in.

I didn't have to.

Seconds later, I saw something that made everything fall into place. A spider, the size of the whole room I was staying in, was walking toward me slowly, its _huge_ pinchers snapping sickeningly. I immediately took back my earlier thought; this thing made wolf spiders look like the most adorable things I'd ever seen.

The orcs laughed at the expression on my face, which was undoubtedly hysterical to them as they weren't petrified by the hideous beast that was next to them. It kept getting closer and closer and, believe me, I wanted to scream more than anything, but I was too scared to even blink. This was to be the cause of my death and it was quite possibly the worst way to go.

The spider kept moving closer and closer, all of its beady eyes on me intently. It was only a foot away from me and all I could do was stare, open-mouthed, and see everything that I would miss pass before my eyes. Legolas, Gimli, Thranduil, Aravaethil, Belathron, even Orthaderyn. I wished them all the best in my final seconds.

I could see the spider's pinchers, practically on either side of my face, and knew that I was seconds away from death when an elven arrow hit the thing in one of its eyes. It squealed and recoiled, falling back and landing on two of the orcs. It seemed only to get angrier, standing up high on its sleek, black legs.

A bunch of elves entered the clearing and arrows were flying everywhere. A blade sliced through the web, right next to me, resulting in a squeak from me. Aravaethil stepped in front of me, glowering at me with a look that totally said '_you think you're lucky because the spider didn't kill you, but now __**I'm**__ going to!'_ I gave her a sheepish look as she cut me entirely out of the web.

I fell in a heap on the floor, but swiftly got to my feet, holding my weapon out in front of me in case any orcs came near me. It was pointless, as Aravaethil was standing in front of me protectively, shooting orcs with her bow as if it were the easiest thing in the world. The only elf doing better was Legolas, but that was no surprise. He was like, scarily lethal when he wanted to be.

The elves killed the spider, and the other two that joined it, and the orcs without any problems and when they were done, all eyes were on me. I grinned awkwardly, trying to walk away from them all to avoid their wrath, particularly Legolas'. I'd never seen him look so mad and I knew _lots_ Elvish was heading my way. Or, if I was lucky, English.

He approached and Aravaethil stepped away, allowing him near me. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were pursed, obviously imagining throttling me. I held my hands up in surrender/apology, but he didn't stop coming forward. In fact, he grabbed my elbow and started wheeling me away from the other elves, who silently watched us leave. It was clear that they, too, could see the prince's rage and were not about to piss him off any further. Probably wise for me to do the same.

He dragged to all the way back to the waterfall, where there were no longer any guards. It was only the two of us and, for once, I wished it wasn't.

"What were you doing?" He hissed. "What were you thinking?!"

"I-I couldn't sleep." I answered lamely.

He gave me an incredulous look. "And you thought that going after a pack of orcs was a good idea?"

"Hey, that's not fair! I didn't go looking for them!" I insisted defensively. "Even _I'm_ not stupid enough to do that. And those spiders…." I shuddered. "Why in the name of all that is holy are they so _big_? Did y'all feed them steroids or something? That is neither normal nor okay on any level."

He sighed, leaning his face into his hand. "Will you please, _please_ stop getting yourself into such situations? One day, it is going to end up killing you."

I frowned. He was right. "It's not like I try to…." I mumbled.

He actually snorted in response. "Yes, but it is not 'like' you try _not to_ either." He took his face out of his hand. "Paige."

I lifted my eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Please. Promise me that you will not go out on your own anymore."

"But I killed an orc on my own and-"

"Paige."

I groaned. "Yeah, yeah…. Okay. I promise."

He took my face in his hands, gazing at me intently. "Promise me."

I swallowed loudly, very aware of the feeling of his skin on mine and the blush it brought to my cheeks. "I promise that I won't go off into the woods on my own anymore, but if, for some reason, I encounter any orcs ever again, I will use this weapon to behead as many of them as I possibly can."

"That is the best I am going to get from you, correct?"

I shrugged. "Yup."


	27. Slip

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

I'd always thought that Legolas gave the worst lectures, but that was because I'd never gotten one from Thranduil before. He must've taught his son because, holy hell, he was _scary_ with his rage directed at me. His eyes held mine with such intensity that, no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't look away. It didn't help that he was so much taller than me so he literally loomed over me, speaking of his 'responsibility to me' and things like that.

Legolas just stood beside me, arms folded across his chest, listening to Thranduil chew me out. I knew that Legolas agreed with everything that Thranduil was saying and, if his father hadn't said what he did, Legolas probably would've later.

Once Thranduil was done, he sent both Legolas and I away, muttering something in Elvish to his son. Legolas nodded so slightly that I almost missed it and then he took my arm and led me out of the room, closing the door behind us. I waited until we were a little ways away from Thranduil before asking Legolas what he'd said to him.

"He has sent for the elves of Rivendell. They will be here in two days' time. We are going to fight the orcs." Legolas answered.

I blinked. "Can I help?"

Legolas laughed until he looked at my face. "Absolutely not!"

I pouted. I never got to do anything fun anymore. It was bad enough that I was getting yelled at all the time, but now I had to stay behind while the other elves did something useful to rid Mirkwood of the orcs and spiders. Maybe it was time to come out and tell them the truth about who I was. Maybe then they would let me actually _do_ something. Or maybe they'd be _more_ strict with me. That would be just my luck….

Those two days passed quickly and before I knew it, new elves were in Mirkwood, friendly and beautiful as can be. Their 'leader' or sorts was name Elladan and as soon as I'd overheard his name, he was ushered off to see King Thranduil. I'd stared at him the whole time he walked away, trying to figure out how he looked so different than the elves in Mirkwood did. His hair was _dark_, his eyes grey-blue, and his face gentler than almost any I'd ever seen before. All of his 'people' seemed to bear the same kindness in their features. It almost seemed like the Mirkwood elves were more dangerous, more bad ass….

Many of the Rivendell elves stared at me with curiosity as I did to them, but there was no judgment in their eyes. They probably just assumed (and rightly so) that I was just another elf living in Mirkwood. None of them needed to know any different. They didn't need to know my life story.

Just as when the dwarves were here, a party was thrown, but this time, it was a whole lot more mellow. The dwarves were loud and fun and crazy and the elves were…. Well, elves. There was dancing, but it was slow, and there was music, but it was soft and mellow. I honestly worried that I would have to leave early just because of how bored I was. I'd gotten all gussied up, as I had for the dwarves, so I didn't want to be rude and waste a perfectly good dress.

I hadn't let Aravaethil do my hair for fear of her seeing my ears and she'd been quite obviously hurt. I'd apologized and explained that I had an idea that she would have to wait and see. She'd simply agreed, placing a golden dress and shoes on my bed before stalking out of my room. I couldn't help but feel bad, but what was I supposed to do?

Legolas hadn't left my side at all during the party and I couldn't help but find that strange, not that I minded. A bunch of girls came up and asked him to dance, but he would politely decline, saying something about how he had to watch me. I shook my head and gestured for him to go, but he would give me a sharp look and I took that as a 'stop'.

I was asked by quite a few elves myself to dance and it surprised me each time. I would smile and say that I was tired. I wasn't in the mood for dancing with random elves, especially not after Mr. 'I'm the best thing to grace this land' from last time. I was perfectly content to be with Legolas, comfortable and quiet.

At one point, I got thirsty and I wandered away from him, saying I would be right back. I got some water and then started to go back to him when a familiar, not-so-friendly person stepped in front of me.

"Good evening, Lady Paige." Nóruivael greeted.

I nodded, confused. "Nóruivael."

I continued back toward Legolas and Nóruivael followed, catching up and walking beside me. "It has been a long time since last we saw each other."

"Good thing, too," I replied, grinning cheekily. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to Legolas."

She grabbed my arm, stopping me, and I whirled to face her. I didn't want to make a scene at a party, but if she didn't let go of me, I was going to get a little bit crazy. Or maybe a lot bit crazy. I didn't like her any more than I had the last time I saw her and I _really _didn't like her touching me.

"You should not lead him on." She whispered angrily. "It would be cruel to let him grow too fond of you, _human_. In a blink of an eye, you will be gone and he will live forever. Do you think that Thranduil will even allow his son to be with you? Let him find someone better suited for him and go be with your own kind."

I was so mad, I didn't think before I spoke. "Joke's on you, dear. I already am with my 'own kind'."

And with that, I stormed off to Legolas, leaving Nóruivael staring after me in disbelief. She probably thought I was going crazy as she'd been told time and time again that I was human and there I was, implying that I was an elf. Half way back to Legolas, I realized what I'd done and I started to panic. What if she told someone what I'd said? What if she told _Legolas_? He wouldn't let that go quickly at all.

But I was bewildered; why did Nóruivael just give me that whole little speech. She'd been so jealous, almost as if she believed Legolas like liked me, or more, _loved_ me. But that was impossible and ridiculous! He thought I was human, mortal; he wouldn't fall for a human. That would be just plain stupid. Then again, I fell for him when I still thought myself human and that was pretty stupid, too. But he couldn't possibly feel the same way…. Could he?

"…. Merillain."

I froze, zeroing in on the voice which had used that name. I didn't recognize it, so I assumed it was an elf from Rivendell. Making it look like I had a true purpose for being where I was, I listened to what the elf was saying about, weird as it was to admit it, me.

"She is here?" Another elf murmered back skeptically.

"Indeed. Narel has seen the crown and touched it many times. This time, she felt nothing. King Thranduil has found Merillain."

"Why has he said nothing to Lord Elladan?"

"Perhaps he believes that she will be safer if he says nothing."

"Or perhaps he does not know."

"I doubt if that is even possible. How could he not know that the young Lady of Lothlórien is in his kingdom?" The first voice paused. "Let us ask his son, prince Legolas. Surely, he will know."

Crap. Not good, not good, _not good_! They were going to ask _Legolas_ about where Merillain was and why Thranduil hadn't mentioned her yet?! I had to get to him before they did, so I took off running, resulting in a lot of weird looks from a lot of elves. I didn't even care that it probably wasn't appropriate to run in the middle of a party.

When Legolas came into view, I was super grateful. He didn't seem to feel the same way. He looked worried, probably about the fact that I was running at him at top speed. He walked toward me, helping me get to him even faster.

When I got to him, I grabbed his hands. "Hi!"

"Are you well?" He asked, concerned.

His question brought on an idea. "Yes…. No…."

And I used all my best acting skills. I started tipping over, falling right into his arms. I squeezed my eyes closed and groaned. He scooped me up and started walking. As my eyes were closed, I didn't know exactly where we were going, but I went with it, just glad to be getting away from Nóruivael and the other elves that were about to effectively ruin my life.

When I heard doors close, I knew we'd left the main hall. I opened my eyes and slipped out of his arms, landing gracefully on the ground. He watched me, completely baffled, and I stared back, never so relieved in my entire life.

"Whew…. Thanks for that."

"You…. You feigned illness?" He demanded. "To get out of the party?"

I nodded. "Yes. Yes, I did."

I expected him to yell or lecture me, so you can imagine how I felt when he took me by the hand and started pulling me away from the main hall, a smile on his face. Wait, he'd been bored, too?! He never had to know that boredom wasn't my reason for escaping.

"Um…. Legolas? Where are we going?"

He glanced at me, a scheming glint in his eyes. "You will see."


	28. Secret

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** In_ honor of twenty-one days published, my happy chappy! :D_

I asked. I nagged. I _begged_ for Legolas to tell me where we were going, but he wouldn't say. We'd gone through the gate, which surprised me considering the orcs and icky spiders, but I trusted Legolas. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that I hated secrets and surprises unless I was in on them, even ones as simple as this. Did it really matter where we were going? No. No, it didn't. Well, maybe not to a normal person, but I'm Paige and it mattered a whole lot to me. My annoyance only grew as we got further and further away from the gate and he still wouldn't tell me. I tried to pull my hand from his, to no avail. I even started grumbling at one point and I'm embarrassed to admit that _I_ didn't even know what I was talking about, so the fact that Legolas ignored me was no big shock.

When the sound of rushing water grew closer and closer, I knew exactly where he was taking me; the waterfall, the place we'd gone a few days before after I'd nearly been spider food and he'd made me promise not to wander off on my own anymore. But what were we doing here now? I hadn't done anything wrong! Well, unless he'd found out about my little secret….

"What are we doing here?" I asked slowly, no longer grumpy, just confused.

He glanced at me with a smile. "I was under the impression that you wanted to get away from the party?" When I nodded, he continued. "I did not think it would be wise to stay within the city walls where we could have been easily found and forced into going back. You may feel differently, but I have no intention of going back."

I shook my head vigorously. "Hell no. Me either. I'm not going back to face the wrath of Nóruivael."

"Nóruivael? Whatever do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. You have to know that she likes you." He stared at me blankly. Oh, right. He was going to need me to spell things out for him. I sighed. "She feels threatened by me, though I have _no_ idea why. Apparently, she's under the impression that I'm going to hurt you because I'm human and I'm going to kick the bucket soon and all."

"Kick the bucket?"

"Yes. Oh, you don't know what that means…. Die. I'm going to die."

His face grew alarmed. "What?!"

"Not right now!" Oh, God. I was only making things worse…. I needed to find a way to _stop talking_. "Anyway, she wants to be with you, as in 'with you' with you and, for some reason, she thinks I'm getting in the way of that."

He cringed. "Will she ever give up?"

"Ha! I don't think she will give up until you're married to someone else and even then, I'm sure she would have no qualms about breaking up your marriage." I rolled my eyes. "She's impossible."

I started to laugh and I expected Legolas to join in, but he did not. He was busy gazing at me, questions lurking in those beautiful eyes. His expression stopped my laughter short, making me stare right back, feeling a deep blush grow on my cheeks. _Dammit_! I hoped like hell that he wouldn't notice the sudden color in my face.

"What did she say to you?" He asked.

"U-umm…." I stuttered, trying to clear my head. "She said that I shouldn't lead you on because I'm human and I should go be with my own kind."

"Lead me on?"

I swallowed. "Uh, yeah. She seems to think that I'm being cruel to you and that you like me as more than a friend, which is completely absurd, of course."

"Why is that absurd?"

Oh, he was making my stomach squirm and writhe uncomfortably. His eyes were fixed on mine and there was no hint of teasing in his face. He made me feel like I was confessing to murder. Part of me wanted to run away as fast as I could and hide in a tree, but the wiser part of me knew that I wouldn't get very far.

"W-well, look at me. I'm human." I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lie fell easily from my mouth. Probably because I'd believed for so long that that was the truth. "I'm kind of a menace, I don't listen to the most basic and simple instructions, I'm more accident prone than anyone I've ever met and then look at you. You're a prince and you're immortal and good at _everything_. Do you get my point?"

"No. You are simply stating facts." There was a slight mischievousness in his voice now, though he was still mostly serious. "And Nóruivael is correct."

For about three seconds, I did nothing, and then my mouth fell open in shock. Did I hear him right? Had he just confirmed that he thought of me as more than a friend? No way. He was yanking my chain. Yet, all signs of playfulness were gone from his features and he stared at me earnestly, as if willing me to believe his words.

He placed his hand under my chin, tilting my head back slightly. His face was mere inches from mine and I felt like I couldn't breathe. "You _are_ a menace and you do not listen to basic and simple instructions, but even so, there is more good in you than anyone I have ever known before. You are honest and brave and beautiful; only a fool would think otherwise."

I gawked at him and, in typical Paige style, replied with, "What?"

His thumb caressed my cheek. "I love you."

He gave me no time to respond and, before I even knew what was happening, his lips were on mine, gentle yet fierce. His free arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me tightly against his chest. For the first few seconds, I stood there like a bump on a log, totally useless, too stunned to move, but then I gathered what was happening and I realized how inappropriate and stupid my reaction was. I wrapped both of my arms around his neck, pulling myself even closer to him, and kissed him back as passionately as I could. I felt him smile against my lips, but I hardly paid any attention to that. I was a little preoccupied.

I honestly don't know how long it was before we pulled away from each other, gazing in each other's eyes. Both of our arms stayed where they were before so that we were still in our embrace, which I didn't mind; I felt so safe and _wanted_ in his arms and I didn't want to move one inch from where I was until I had to.

"Well, I guess that tells you how I feel," I whispered, a little breathless.

He chuckled. "Does it?"

I leaned my head on his chest. "I love you."

He pressed a kiss to my hair, making me beam contentedly. I'd never loved anyone in _that_ way before and I was happy to find that I quite liked it. I liked the warm, twisty feeling it brought on, even though it also scared me. I knew I had no reason to fear; Legolas would never, _ever_ hurt me.

How was Thranduil going to react? I stiffened at the thought, petrified. What if Nóruivael had been right and Thranduil wouldn't want Legolas and I to be together? I didn't even want to think about it, but since the idea was in my head, it wasn't going to get out on its own.

Legolas drew away from me just slightly. "What it wrong, mel-nín?" (Mel-nín = My love.)

"Uhh…." I peered up at him nervously. "Is your father going to be angry with me?"

He seemed perplexed. "Angry with you? Whatever for?"

"_This_." I gestured between the two of us. "You're a prince. Surely, he had someone picked out for you to be with and I've come along and messed all of that up. You honestly think he wants the _prince_ of Mirkwood to be in love with a simple human girl? Oh, he is going to kill m-"

Legolas silenced me with a swift, soft kiss. "He will be nothing but pleased, mel-nín. He has known for some time how I feel about you. He and Gimli both."

I gasped. "Gimli? That turd! He's known about this this whole freaking time!" But in spite of my words, I laughed, as did Legolas. "How long do we have before your father thinks we've been taken by orcs and sends all of the guard looking for us?"

"We do not have to return yet. If you wish to, we shall, but there is no need."

"I don't want to go back until we absolutely have to."

So, we didn't. We stayed there for hours by the waterfall, talking and enjoying our little solitude. We sat and looked at the stars, Legolas telling me about the celebration elves held each year in their honor. My head was on his shoulder and both of his arms were around me. Since our little confessions to each other, he had not let me go or, if he had, he'd very quickly brought me back to him.

When the sun started to rise the next morning, Legolas decided that it was time to go back. I sighed, though I knew he was right, and we walked back to the gate, hand in hand. When the guards let us in, they ogled at us, something that Legolas simply ignored. I tried to do the same, but I could feel my neck growing warm. I had a feeling that news of Legolas and I was going to travel fast. He was the prince, after all.

Legolas walked me all the way to my room and then pulled me in for a long kiss. After that, he stepped away with a gentle look on his face. "Rest now, mel-nín. I shall come for you after you have had some sleep."

I nodded and went into my room, shutting my door securely behind me. Then, in a very un-Paige-like fashion, I giggled, flinging myself across the room and onto my bed. I wasn't sleepy at all and I was kind of upset that I would have to wait for hours until I would see Legolas again. I wished it were still night and we were still out by the waterfall and-

And there was a knock at my door.


	29. Nothing but Trouble

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

_Open the door. Don't open the door. Open the door_... Hmm…. I felt like I should have a flower and be picking the petals off one by one to make my decision for me because I was petrified to open the door. What if it was Thranduil? What if it was _Nóruivael_?! Ooh, I was so dead. But wait; what if it was Legolas?

Very slowly, I tiptoed to the door and opened it just a crack, peeking out. I almost yelled with joy when I saw Aravaethil and I flung the door open, welcoming her in with open arms (literally).

"Aravaethil, hi!"

"When did this happen?" She glared at me, folding her arms across her chest. Erm…. I raised my eyebrow. When did what happen? Me leaving the party? Me coming back to my room? Me…. being born? Seriously, vague much? "Were you going to tell me, or was I lucky enough to turn the corner when I did?"

I blinked. "Turned the corner?"

"You and Legolas."

Oh… That's what she was talking about. Wait, she'd seen Legolas and I kiss?! My face had never felt so hot in my life and my mouth popped open. She'd seen us and she was mad at me for kissing him? Why? Please, _God_, tell me she wasn't going to go all Nóruivael on me! Please, please, _don't let her have feelings for him_, too.

Right as I about to freak out, she grinned, embracing me tightly. "This is wonderful! I always believed that the two of you would make a lovely match."

I pulled away from her. "What? You're congratulating me?" She nodded. "But…. I thought you were mad at me."

"No! I am ecstatic." She touched my cheek lightly. "I am going to leave you so that you can sleep, and when you wake, Legolas will come for you. I am sure that the entire kingdom will know of your news by then."

"Oh, joy…."

She laughed and kissed my cheek. "I will not keep you awake. Rest well, dear one."

And with that, she was gone, shutting the door behind her, leaving me gaping like a complete idiot after her. Of all the scenarios, that was the very last one I'd expected, but I wasn't about to complain. It was better than I'd imagined, unless (of course) it had been Legolas. Damn him for leaving me here to sleep. I wasn't tired, especially not now that Aravaethil was going to run off and tell all the elves that the prince had a girlfriend.

The real question was, what was I going to do until Legolas came back? I'd promised not to go wandering off on my own, but I didn't think going for food would get me in trouble. I was a bit hungry and I did not want to stay in my room. So, I decided to go, changing my clothes and brushing my hair first. I didn't want to wander around in my party clothes from the previous night; the elves would suspect a scandal!

It didn't take me long to get to food. When I was determined, I could be quite quick to get what I wanted and as soon as my adrenaline from my time with Legolas had passed, I realized just how starving I was. My stomach felt like it wanted to eat itself. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but you get the point.

After I'd satisfied my tummy, I decided to go back to my room and pray to all that was holy that Legolas was as impatient to see me as I was to see him. He probably wasn't though because he has much, much better things to do than anxiously wait for the next time he could see me.

The plan was to go back to my room, it really was, but when I saw Legolas speaking to Belathron, a mere fifteen feet away, that plan crumbled. I didn't want to be the crazy girlfriend (was that what I was?), but I couldn't just leave. Could I? Yes. And I absolutely had to before he saw me for the crazy person I was.

I turned on my heel, going back to my former plan of going to my room and waiting for Legolas, and ran right into one of the Rivendell elves. Elladan, to be exact. My head snapped back and I almost fell flat on my back, but he reached out and caught me, eyes wide with surprise. What, had no one ever walked into him before? No, probably not.

"Are you alright?" He asked, not looking like he was angry with me at all.

I brought my hand up to cover my mouth. "I am so, so, _so_ sorry! I gotta go. Sorry."

I was about to start running again, but a hand fell on my shoulder and Elladan's gaze shifted above my head. Grimacing, I turned and saw Legolas peering down at me with curiosity and I gave him an innocent smile, trying to look as sweet and adorable as I possibly could. He seemed torn between amusement and utter confusion.

"I was under the impression that you were resting?" Legolas lifted an eyebrow.

I looked back and forth between the two elves. "Uhh…. I, uhh…. Food is good. But you know, you're right, so is sleep, so I'm just gonna…. Mm, yeah, bye!"

Elladan let me go without a fight, but Legolas caught up easily and walked beside me, wherever it was that I decided to go. As soon as we turned a corner, he took my hand and stopped me from walking, stepping in front of me.

"What are you doing?" He asked me, chuckling softly.

"Well, I wasn't tired and you left and I got hungry, so-"

I was interrupted by Thranduil's loud voice, right at the end of the hallway. "…. is not possible."

Legolas and I both looked up to see him and a few of the Rivendell elves coming toward us. Thranduil was giving me one of the most stern and troubled looks I'd ever seen and I will admit that I was little bit frightened. I still remembered the last time Thranduil was mad at me and it had not been pleasant.

"Paige, come with me. I must speak with you." He said stiffly.

I nodded, giving Legolas a 'help me' look before following the elven king down and out of the hall.


	30. All Along

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

The whole way to the main hall, which was where I knew we were going (after all, when there wasn't a party taking place there, that's where Thranduil usually sat, alone on his throne), I trembled, alarmed of what was coming. Legolas had been confused, though not concerned, when Thranduil told me to go with him and he completely ignored my look of pleading for help. Seriously, what good was a boyfriend-type-thing if he couldn't save you from his kind, though terrifying when he wanted to be father? Why couldn't Legolas have come with me?

When we were back in the main hall, Thranduil walked up the stairs to the platform his throne was on and then turned to stare down at me in the most frightening manner imaginable. His eyes didn't quite say 'I'm gonna kill you', but they said something close enough to make me feel like a dragon was going to fly out of nowhere and take one of my legs. I wanted to scream and run, but I knew that I couldn't; I had to face whatever was coming.

"It seems," He began slowly, "that something has happened that has not been brought to my attention until this day, something that I should have been made aware of before. Do you know of what I speak, Paige?"

I swallowed. "No…."

"Then I shall make things a little bit more clear. There is something in this kingdom that remained untouched by its rightful owner and I believed that to still be the case, but I have been informed that it is not. None would know who she was, but she would be a newcomer and the only one that I can think of is _you_." His eyes narrowed slowly. "Do you know _now_ of what I speak or must I say more?"

Hell. Hell, hell, hell! He knew who I really was; he'd figured it out and he was not happy. What that just because I didn't tell him when I found out or was that because he thought me unworthy of that identity? I really didn't know, but I decided to start my answer with an apology.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I didn't say anything. I was scared and I didn't even want to believe it at first, but I've come to accept it." I bowed my head. "I promise, I would've told you soon. It's not a secret I could've kept forever and I knew that, believe me, I did. You had a right to know, especially after you've waited for…. However long you've waited for me. I'm really, really, _really_ sorry."

Thranduil sighed. "I do not know how long you have known, but you have put yourself in dangerous situations since you found out, I am certain."

I nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry. I know I'm not exactly what you pictured I'd be, and I'm sorry for that. I'm probably a bit of a disappointment."

His face softened and he walked down the stairs, taking my shoulders gently. "You are no disappointment. You have brought life back into Mirkwood. However, you will have to understand why I will have more than simply Legolas watching you now. And I would very much like to know how long you have known."

"About…. A month or so?" I admitted.

"I should have guessed." He chuckled. "You are better at secrecy than I would have thought. Does Legolas know?"

I blushed. "No. He's going to kill me, isn't he?"

Thranduil smiled. "He may be displeased, but he will not remain angry for long. However, I would advise you to go tell him."

"That would probably be a really good idea." I groaned. "But we were so happy…. Dang it."

Thranduil raised an eyebrow and I cursed when I realized that I would have to explain what I'd just said. Oh, boy. As if this wasn't awkward enough already, I had to tell him that his son and I were an item…. Or I could not.

"Never mind, I'm gonna go talk to Legolas."

"We shall discuss this matter later, with Legolas." He gave me a knowing look.

My jaw dropped. "You know?"

He laughed. "Of course." Before I could apologize yet again, he spoke. "I am only please, Paige. You two are an excellent match and I wish you nothing but the best. Telling him the truth would be the best start."

I saluted him with a big grin. "Yes, sir." And then I shocked us both by hugging him. "Thank you."

I drew back and beamed before fleeing from the room. That hadn't been nearly as bad as I'd imagined it would be and I hoped that it didn't mean that Legolas' wrath would be worse. I really hoped he would be as understanding as his father. Maybe he would…. He said he loved me, so there was that. That would help. Hopefully.

It didn't take me long to find him. He was talking to a guard at the gates, but he didn't seem mad, so I hoped that that was a good sign. He was actually smiling at one of them, having an apparently pleasant conversation. Good!

"Legolas!" I shouted.

I ran up to him, butterflies growing bigger in my stomach by the second. I placed one hand on his chest and turned to the guards. "Open the gates, please."

They obeyed and I grabbed Legolas' hand, tugging him out of the city with me. I started running, dragging him along with me, toward the clearing that we used to practice archery in, thinking that being away from the city might make things better. At this point, I would've patted my head and rubbed my belly if I thought that that would make things go more smoothly.

We got there in no time, as he made no objections, which actually surprised me a lot. Legolas was like me in that regard; he wanted to know what was going on at all times. I was actually amazed he hadn't demanded to know why I'd wanted to leave the city.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly, spinning me toward him and resting a hand on my cheek. "What did my father want to discuss with you?"

"Umm, I gotta talk to you."

"Are you alright?" His voice was a bit more urgent then.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, but I _really_ need to tell you something."

"Alright."

I took a deep breath. "I'm not a human girl from Texas. I'm Merillain."


	31. Okay Then

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** I_** AM SO SORRY THIS CHAPPY HAS TAKEN SO LONG! I'VE BEEN BUSY APPLYING FOR COLLEGE, SO…. :)**_

Legolas stared at me, his face blank and his eyes wide. His hand was still on my cheek, seeming completely frozen there, and I felt more uneasy by the minute. Legolas and long silences were so rare that when they did occur, you knew it meant trouble and this was the longest silence he'd ever had. I wanted to pull away, to _look_ away, but I had a feeling that that would snap him out of his daze and I wasn't ready for that.

I shifted slightly, moving my feet closer together and rocking back onto my heels. Why hadn't I sort of, you know, tried to tell him in a better way instead of just springing it on him as if I was saying something completely unimportant? Oh, right. Because I'm an idiot and I don't think; I just do.

Finally, he blinked, eyes coming into focus on my face. I gave him an awkward little apologetic smile as his hand slid from my cheek and he took a step back. Uh oh.

"What do you mean?" He whispered hoarsely. "How do you know?"

Okay, no yelling yet. That was good. "Well, Orthaderyn told me about her and the crown and what would happen if I touched it and…. nothing happened. So, she explained why and then I talked to your father and he confirmed it. Only, I didn't tell him why I was asking about the crown and everything until about twenty minutes ago, but even so, I know and so does he and he told me to tell you. Please don't be too mad. You can be angry, but not too angry."

His face was incredulous. "What qualifies as 'too angry'? Why did you not tell me before? Why have you been putting yourself at risk, even with this knowledge? Paige, how can you believe that I will not be angry?"

"I'm really optimistic?" I cringed. "Legolas, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. There was a part of me that wanted to tell you, but I was _terrified_. Try to look at this the way _I_ saw it; impossible! Freaking impossible that an unwanted girl from Texas could be some powerful elf-princess-lady-thing and I thought it was too insane to say out loud. And even now, I don't fully understand it, Legolas. I don't know why my _real_ parents gave me away and sent me to another world and I don't know why my earth parents kept me when they very clearly didn't want to. It's not that I don't trust you; I trust you more than anyone else I've ever known, but it's scary to admit something this crazy. Please. You don't have to forgive me right this second, but _please_ forgive me."

He came back to me and took my face in his hands. He sighed. "There is nothing to forgive, mel-nín. I wish that you would have told me before, but…." A wide smile graced his features. "This is wonderful."

And he took me by surprise by kissing me fiercely, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. I threw my hands up in shock and then relaxed, putting my hands on his shoulders and kissing him back. My eyelids fell shut and I focused only on him and the sudden relief I was feeling. Legolas wasn't gonna kill me!

When he drew back, he took one of my hands in his and started dragging me back toward the city. What, he wasn't going to say anything else?

"Wait, Legolas, what are we doing?"

"We are going back to see my father."

"Umm…. Why?"

He just smiled at me, not answering. God, it was frustrating when he did that. What was he planning? Why was he so giddy? I'd expected yelling and then a whole crapload of silent treating and all I'd received was a small lecture and then one hell of a kiss. That wasn't really a normal reaction in my opinion, but maybe I was the one with bad reactions.

When we were back in the city, we went straight to the main hall and found Thranduil. He watched us with amusement as we approached, but said nothing, waiting very patiently. I gave him an 'I don't know' look, which made his smile only grow. I resisted the urge to laugh; he was probably used to Legolas' strangeness and I knew for sure that he was used to mine.

"I told him." I said to Thranduil when Legolas and I had stopped walking. "As you can see, he took it…. Well, he took it."

Thranduil laughed. "I do indeed see that."

"May I have a word with you?" Legolas asked his father, glancing at me.

I nodded. "Oh, okay. I'll just go…. Talk to Aravaethil. She should probably know about this so, I'll come back later."

Both men laughed and Legolas placed his hand on my back. "I did not mean for you to leave, mel-nín."

"Oh." I blushed. "Well, I should go talk to her anyway, so I'll come back after I do that…. Yeah? Okay."

Even though they were clearly puzzled, they both agreed and I left the room, wondering what Legolas wanted to speak to Thranduil about. He wasn't trying to hide it from me; I'd been more than welcome to stay there with them. Hmm…. I would just have to ask him later. But did I want to know? Ha, who was I kidding? Of course I would want to know. After I talked to Aravaethil.


	32. He WHAT!

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

I would be lying if I said that Aravaethil took the news of my true identity well. She pulled a Legolas and yelled at me in Elvish, pacing and running her hands through her long, auburn hair. Every few minutes, she would stop moving and glare at me fiercely, almost as if she felt personally wounded by the fact that I hadn't told her before. I'd defended myself profusely, admitting that I hadn't told Legolas either until about an hour before. That had slowed her rage, though not stopped it completely. Eventually though, she decided that I was forgiven and she gave me a big, tight hug, running off after saying something about 'big plans' and 'such joy'. I decided it was better not to ask.

Instead, I went up to my room, getting cozy in my bed and actually enjoying it for the first time in forever. I was actually contemplating falling asleep, wanting the peace I knew it would bring me, but also not wanting to waste my time. Hmm…. Maybe just a little nap….

The next thing I knew, there were two hands on my shoulders, gently shaking me awake. Wow, I hadn't thought that I would actually fall asleep, but I was actually kind of glad. My brain felt even more clear and sharp than before.

I opened my eyes and saw Orthaderyn standing above me, a smile lighting her face. I stretched and sat up, blinking and smiling back with wide eyes.

"I am sorry to wake you, hiril vuin, but King Thranduil has asked to speak with you." Upon seeing my expression, she added. "Do not feel anxious; he looks very pleased. You are not in any trouble…. _This_ time."

At that, I laughed in relief and amusement. "Oh, okay. Thanks. I'll go see him right away, Orthaderyn." I frowned. "Your name is a mouthful. Can I call you something for short?"

"For short?"

"Yeah, like Ortha? Or Deryn? Or Eryn? Ooh, Eryn! Can I call you Eryn?" I asked excitedly. I'd always loved that name, but never knew anyone personally with it, so I really hoped she'd say yes.

She looked thoughtful for a moment before slowly nodding. " I suppose you may, if you truly wish to. Eryn is far better than Ortha."

"Yeah…. Anyway, I'm going to go talk to my boyfriend's dad."

I hopped off my bed and rushed out of the room, humming happily as I danced toward the main hall. If Thranduil wasn't mad, I wasn't worried and whatever he wanted to talk to me about would probably be as wonderful as unicorns and party hats and weddings. I loved those things, especially weddings. Wait; were unicorns _real_ here?! Ooh, I was so totally going to ask Legolas later!

When I got to the main hall, I skipped inside, wiping the overly large grin off my face as I walked toward Thranduil. Legolas was no longer in the room (which left me wondering where he was) and Thranduil's face was collected, but definitely pleased, so no butterflies formed in my stomach. I just walked until I was at the bottom of his platform.

"You wanted to see me?"

"I did. Legolas has suggested something to me and I think it is an excellent plan. However, I wanted your opinion before I granted him permission."

I raised an eyebrow. Permission? "For what?"

Thranduil gave me a smile. "In light of your recent confession, he thinks there are certain things that you must do."

Okay, _now_ I was nervous. "What things?"

"He thinks it wise for you to go to Lothlórien as you are the rightful ruler."

My jaw dropped. He thought _what_?! Was he freaking insane? When I got my hands on him…. Ooh…. I would kill him. But… No. He wanted me to leave?! I thought he loved me! I loved him, I couldn't…. what?! This was a living nightmare and I was not okay. I was staring at Thranduil, completely frozen.

"You may have time to consider, of course."

"He wants me to leave?" I asked, monotone. "He wants me to go be _in charge_ of a whole bunch of people? Is he mental?! I'm not leaving him! All of you here in Mirkwood are my people and I'm not about to walk away from that! And he wants me to be in charge? Me? I'm already close in enough to in charge just by being with your son; I'm not _ever_ going to be 'in charge' in charge!"

He cocked his head. "No?"

What I'd said sunk in then and I flushed. "Well, maybe, you know…. If Legolas and I…." I had to take a deep breath before I could say the words. "If I marry Legolas, since he's the heir to the throne, maybe I'll be, like, assistant in charge-"

"Queen?" Thranduil corrected with a chuckle.

"Yes. I guess that's what I would be." I looked at the floor, barely able to think that way. We'd barely even started a relationship and now, his father and I were talking about marriage? Well, I guess I had known him for eight months now and people had gotten married in shorter time period than that, but – whoa! Thranduil wasn't asking me to marry Legolas!... Yet. I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

"Please, speak to Legolas. He can explain his reasons." Thranduil brought his hands together. "Oh, and he was not asking you to go anywhere without him. He would accompany you, of course."

"Oh. Well. I'm going to go bitch him out, so I'll talk to you later."


	33. What Have I Done!

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! ***** P.S. I AM SO SORRY IT HAS TAKEN SO LONG FOR ME TO UPDATE! Who knew college applications could be so time-consuming?!

I didn't have to look very far to find Legolas. He was waiting for me just outside the main hall, a knowing smile on his perfect face which was met with a mighty scowl from me. He looked like he couldn't decide whether to be amused or worried, but apparently, my expression was just too funny. A chuckle slipped out from between his lips, resulting in an even more 'attractive' glower from me. I placed my hands on my hips and marched so that I was mere inches away from him, tapping my foot to keep from socking him in the nose. His nose was straight and had clearly never been broken; I didn't want to ruin that in a moment of rage. I wasn't _that_ far gone. I still loved him…. Even though I sort of hated him in that moment, especially as he laughed at me. I couldn't even speak.

"Dare I ask why you are troubled?" He managed after a moment. "I suppose that you will tell me whether I do or not."

My eyes narrowed and I ground my teeth in fury. What was he _thinking_?! Send me off to rule a bunch of elves I'd never met just because I was the daughter of some fancy elf Lord and Lady? Oh, and I was supposed to take comfort in the fact that he'd be with me? Well, okay, that did make me feel a bit better, but still! What in the name of all that was holy made him think _me_ fit to rule? Me, who'd tugged on an elf's ear and nearly fallen off a cliff (multiple times!) not even a year ago. Me, who'd barely even found out that I was an elf myself and had not had the courage to admit it to _anyone_, not even the man…. elf…. I loved. I mean, really. Had he wacked his head on one too many trees?

Legolas put his hands on my upper arms, gently pulling me ever so slightly closer to him. "I cannot know why you are upset if you refuse to speak, mel-nín."

"Mm hmm." I grunted, unimpressed. Where had he learned such profound wisdom? God, he was such a freaking guy sometimes. Thanks for that, captain obvious. And why was this funny?! I was pissed off and he couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"Paige. What is wrong?"

I froze for about two seconds before unleashing my wrath on him. "What's wrong? _What's wrong_?! Oh, gee, I dunno. Maybe the fact that you 'run things' about me by your father without me having the slightest clue until he tells me even though I should be hearing your wonderful ideas from you! Or maybe what's wrong is that you want me to leave Mirkwood and go be some Lady-ruler-thing for a bunch of elves I've never met! But, wait, I'm supposed to be giddy about that just because you'll be coming with me. But for how long? You're heir to the throne of Mirkwood, after all, you can't just leave, but I'll have to stay in Loth-loth…. Oh, whatever the hell it's called and you'll have to come back here and then we'll have a long-distance relationship, which won't even work because there's no way of contacting each other quickly and we'll hardly ever see each other and-"

His finger came to my lips and he shook with silent laughter. "Breathe, mel-nín." He said. "You are clearly very confused."

I took a deep breath and cocked my head to one side. "What do you mean?"

"You misunderstood my idea and you are worrying even though you have no need to. I am not suggesting that you leave Mirkwood and become the Lady of Lothlórien. I am not suggesting that you be there and I here. I am no more pleased with that thought than you are."

I blinked, trying to understand his words. "Then what _are_ you suggesting?"

He stroked my cheek. "I merely thought it wise for you to see where you truly come from. It is true that Lothlórien is in need of a ruler, but that does not have be you. You are the rightful heir, but there are two others that have claim to that position as well and I am certain that either one of them would be pleased to take it. I am not asking you to do anything that you wish not to do. If you wish to stay here, that is what we shall do."

"What do you mean, 'there are two others that have claim'?" I demanded.

"Your sister had two sons, one of whom is here in Mirkwood. I believe that you have already met."

My jaw dropped. "What?! Who?!"

"Lord Elladan."

"_What_?! That guy is my nephew? What the hell is this? Life is a lie!" I turned around and started pacing, chewing on my thumb as I tried to work everything out. "I had a sister who floated away 'into the west', but she had two sons first and I can give Lothlórien to either one of them even though one of them is already the Lord of Rivendell and I can stay here in Mirkwood…. Is that correct?"

"Yes?"

"I only have two people to choose from?" I whirled back to face Legolas, frowning deeply.

He nodded. "Celebrían's daughter is mortal now and she is queen of Gondor."

I groaned. "I have a niece, too?! Oh, my _lord_, Legolas, what else are you going to tell me? I don't know how much more I can handle right now! You're used to this crap, it's not sudden and scary to you, but to me? First it's 'go to Lothlórien', then it's 'marriage', and now I have nephews and a niece?!"

He blinked. "Marriage? Who said anything about marriage?"

I flushed bright red, my face going completely blank. "No one. No one said anything about marriage. Where'd you get that idea? Ha ha, anyway. Nephews. Niece. Lothlórien. Explain."

He looked at me suspiciously. "Paige…."

"What?" I squeaked, knowing Legolas well enough to know that I was not going to be able to avoid the conversation I did NOT want to have.

"Who said anything about marriage?"

I thought of everything I'd ever been taught about excuses not to say something and the worst one ever fell out of my mouth. "A little bird."

"Birds do not speak."

My eyes went wide and I feigned shock. "What? Well, you've just shattered all my hopes and dreams and I now have to go and cry in my room, so…. I'll see you later. Bye!"

And I started to run away. I got maybe two steps before his hand closed around my arm and he stepped in front of me, face serious for the first time in our conversation. Dammit! Why did I mention the marriage thing? Thranduil hadn't actually suggested marriage, but he _sort of _had. Enough to scare the pants off of me. Well. If I'd been wearing pants, that is. I loved Legolas as I'd never loved anyone before and I knew he loved me, but eight months of knowing each other and not even forty-eight hours of being 'together' together…. Marriage? Wasn't that just a little hasty?

"Okay, fine." I gave in before he had to ask again. "The subject of marriage _may_ have come up when I was talking to your father. But only because I said I was never going to be in charge of anyone and he gave me this look and was all 'no?' and he gave me this look that totally said 'yeah, right!' and I was like, 'oh, shiz, he's talking about marriage' and I panicked."

To my surprise, Legolas was laughing again by the time I finished speaking.

"Why are you laughing at me?!"

He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, his hands on either side of my neck, and quickly pulled back. "There is no one as amusing as you, mel-nín. The things that concern you…." He paused for a minute and then looked at me with a curious expression. "Marriage frightens you?"

"Ha, no, not when people wait the reasonable amount of time before they get married."

"And what is the 'reasonable amount of time'?"

"At least a year from their first kiss."

It was his turn to look shocked. "A year?"

"What? Is that not long enough?"

He snorted. "That is far too long. We have known each other eight months."

I drew my face away from his, my eyes going way too wide to be normal. "Legolas. Are you asking me to marry you?"

"No. Not yet."

I laughed, a slightly hysterical sound. "Yet. He says yet. Well, guess what? I'm not even seventeen _yet_ and I won't be until May twenty-third. How's that for a 'yet'? In fact, I'll make you a deal. I'll marry you once I'm seventeen."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, floundering. "Is that a promise?"

I nodded. "Yes. I promise."

"You are sure?"

"Yes."

He grinned. "Deal."

I didn't like the look in his eyes. Not one, little bit. It made my stomach flip and made me feel like I was going to throw up. It was at least two months before my birthday and I hadn't said _right_ when I was seventeen. Oh, God. I hadn't, had I?! No. I definitely hadn't agreed to _right_ when I was seventeen.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It will be the twenty-third day in May in two days."

No way. That couldn't be right! I'd only been here eight months and I'd come in…. September. September was… Oh, no. It was eight months from May. In two days, I would be seventeen and I'd just agreed to marry Legolas once I turned seventeen. What had I done?


	34. In Your Hands

***** I DO NOT OWN THE LOTR OR THE HOBBIT OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THEM! This is purely fanfiction! Enjoy! *****

The rest of that day and the whole next, I spent in my room, trying to work out my thoughts, terrified to the point of losing my mind of what I'd unwittingly agreed to. It wasn't because I lacked love for Legolas; God only knew that was the furthest case from the truth possible. I'd never loved anyone the same way or as much as I loved Legolas, but I knew that I had trust issues. Legolas had never given me a reason not to trust him, but still…. Could I trust him enough to _marry _him? Be his _wife_ and everything that went along with that? Was I ready for that? I didn't think so. Plus, I'd have to give up my incredibly awesome room and share Legolas' with him, a room I'd never dared go into. And we would have to do what married couples do and…. nope. Definitely not ready.

Besides, there was so much else going on in Legolas' life right now that he surely wasn't ready yet himself. I mean, with all the orcs and spiders invading Mirkwood all the time, that was enough to worry about. He didn't need to worry about a wife as well. I was already something to worry about, but I knew that growing even closer than we already were would make him worry about me even more. Neither of us needed that.

On the bright side though, my seventeenth birthday was the next day and that was something to be excited about. If not for the deal I'd made, I would've been thrilled, although a little baffled. I'd never had a birthday party (nor did I want to!), but I'd made the mistake of telling Legolas that it was my birthday and I seriously doubted he'd let it go unnoticed. I grimaced.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door, making me jump. It was late in the night before my birthday and no one had come looking for me in all of that time (probably assuming I was with Legolas or Aravaethil or Eryn), and I'd almost believed that I could stay hiding in my room as long as I wanted and no one would disturb me.

With a frown, I started for the door and it opened and a concerned looking Thranduil stepped inside, followed closely by Legolas and a bunch of elf guards, all bearing the same expression. All of their eyes settled on my face and both the king and the prince sighed in relief, Legolas stepping around his father and rushing toward me, taking my face in his hands.

"Have you been here all this time?" He asked me softly, his thumb caressing my cheek.

I nodded, glancing at the elven king quizzically. Why had he brought so many people? Hadn't he thought to just send one elf looking for me first? Or maybe he had…. I dimly recalled hearing a knock on my door earlier that day, but ignoring it completely. Whoever had been there had never come in…. They must have assumed that I would've let them in if I was in the room and told Thranduil and Legolas that they didn't know where I was.

"Pân eithel." Thranduil spoke to his guards quietly and they all left the room. (All is well.) He walked toward Legolas and I, his hands behind his back. "You have been in here far too long. You must eat."

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry, but thank you. I'm sorry for making you worry, but I'm fine."

Both of them looked suspicious, but neither responded to that statement. They glanced at each other and Legolas gave a slight nod, letting me go and walking out of my room. I was confused, but also somewhat used to being talked to by the king.

"Legolas told me of your agreement."

I cringed just slightly, turning my back to him so that nothing on my face would show. I didn't say anything either, afraid my voice would shake and bring on more questions than I wanted to deal with at the moment. Couldn't life ever just be simple? I seriously doubted it, but it would've been so nice. Maybe even just a few days with no worries…. Ha, yeah right. I would never have that luxury. Especially if I became the future queen of Mirkwood.

"He also spoke of your hesitation, which is something I do not understand."

"I'm sure no one here would." I said, not wanting to be disrespectful, but unable to say nothing any longer.

I heard him take a few steps toward me and his hand fell on my shoulder. "You have not led an easy life and I am certain that you fear such responsibility. However, you are not nearly as young as you believe you are, nor as ill prepared."

Looking over my shoulder at him, I raised one eyebrow. "I'm not as young as I think I am?"

"No. You were sent away from this world quite some time ago and you only speak of the years you remember."

I blinked a few times, surprised that I actually understood what he meant. Most of the time, the elves' strange little sayings and explanations made little to no sense. I was even more surprised by the fact that his words made me feel a little bit better about my impending marriage to his son, though I was sure that that was his point. I was ninety-nine percent positive that Thranduil wanted our marriage more than Legolas did and I sort of got why; he wanted Legolas to be happy and I'm sure he wanted a guarantee that the royal line would continue.

"He will not force you into marriage." Thranduil started toward my balcony. "Neither will I, for that matter, though I will say this; you have no reason to fear. Legolas would make you happy."

"He already has," I whispered.

I heard the smile in Thranduil's voice when he replied. "I know."

My stomach twisted as I thought of all the possibilities before me. "Maybe you're right. I don't know. Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but I've only known him eight months. That's hardly long enough to know whether or not we can pledge ourselves to each other _forever_. I mean, literally forever! I'm sure most elves wait a hell of a lot longer than _eight months_ before agreeing to marry each other."

I was staring at him desperately by then, hoping for more words that could reassure me. He turned very slowly to face me again, his eyes alight with amusement. "I am afraid that most elves do not wait very long. We are not as fickle as humans are and we know when we have found our mate." He paused with a slight chuckle. "Speak to Legolas. The decision is entirely yours."

I watched him leave, closing the door behind him, before going over and collapsing on my bed. Burying my face in my pillows, I let out every curse word I knew, hating that such a big decision fell on me and me alone. The problem was, it didn't have to, but everyone else would make the decision for me and they would all make the same choice; I would probably be married within the week.

Maybe…. Hmm…. If so many people all thought it wise, maybe they were right. Maybe _I_ was the one with a problem, the one who wasn't seeing things clearly. Really, what was so scary about marriage? People did it all the time. Sure, it failed a lot where I came from, but I doubted that divorce existed here in Middle Earth, so people were much more careful about picking who they married. Besides, I had said that Legolas would never hurt me. I still believed that and I always would, so what reason did I have to say no? If I could think of one valid reason, saying no would be okay, but I had none.

Before I could change my mind, I ran from my room at top speed, ignoring the strange look I got from the guard who was in the hall, and started searching for Legolas. Unlike last time, he wasn't easy to find and I ran a lot more than I would've liked to. I ran right past Aravaethil, talking to Belathron, and both called my name, asking me what was wrong. Deciding it would be better to tell them later when I could explain, I ignored them, hoping they wouldn't think I was angry with them.

When I passed the gates, one of the guards stopped me, assuming (correctly) that I was looking for Legolas. He'd gone outside, they told me, to the waterfalls. I thanked them with a grin and then ordered them to open the gates, continuing running outside, even faster now that I knew where I was going.

When he came into sight, I shouted his name, making him jump and whirl. I didn't stop running until I got up to him and threw my arms around his neck, hugging myself to him as tightly as I could. He caught my waist, holding me off the ground and making a sound of surprise.

"What is going on?" He asked me.

I drew just my head back so that we were face to face. "Set a date. Invite as many people as you want or however this whole things works here and tell your father when you decide when we're getting married."

His eyes grew wide. "What?!" He demanded in a very un-Legolas-like manner.

I laughed, kissing him fiercely before explaining. "A deal's a deal and I made you one hell of a deal. I'm still just a little bit petrified, but if you really want this, I'm ready. I trust your judgment much more than I trust my own and I have no doubt in my mind that this will work if you say it will. I love you."

He ogled at me for a split second before beaming. "Are you certain that this is what _you_ want?"

I nodded. "Yup. I'm certain."

He kissed me, spinning me around like people in movies. I giggled, pulling back and burying my face in his neck, clinging to him even more tightly. I felt dizzy, though not from spinning; from the fact that all of this was actually happening. I was going to get freaking married. How did weddings even work here? Man, I was going to need some _serious_ help with this.

Legolas set me on my feet and kissed me once more. "I shall go speak with my father and we will set a date. In the meantime, you should rest. You shall be kept quite busy with your party tomorrow."

I grimaced. "Party?"

"Did you truly believe I would do nothing in our honor?"

"A girl can always dream."

He rolled his eyes and snorted. "Indeed. Let us return. We have much to discuss, but it all can wait until your party is over and the day has passed. You have left this in my hands and you need not worry any longer."

Ha! Not worry…. Of course, I was still going to worry. But that didn't scare me so much anymore; Legolas would always be with me.


End file.
